Four unaccompanied migrant children were rescued from a raft in the Rio Grande after being abandoned by a human smuggler, the U.S. Border Patrol said on Tuesday.
Agents from the Rio Grande Valley Sector, stationed at Fort Brown in Brownsville, Texas, rescued the children.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez shared a photo on social media of border agents rescuing the children and described it as “heroic.”
The children were discovered on a small inflatable raft adrift in the river that divides Texas and Mexico.
Four unaccompanied migrant children were rescued from a raft in the Rio Grande after being abandoned by a human smuggler, the U.S. Border Patrol said on Tuesday.
U.S. Border Patrol
The unaccompanied migrant children were abandoned by a human smuggler, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.
Chavez said in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “Four unaccompanied children (UAC) were found abandoned on a raft in the Rio Grande River, left by a human smuggler. Great response by our quick-thinking Border Patrol agents; these children are now safe!”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows that Border Patrol agents encountered 99,704 unaccompanied children during the Fiscal Year 2024.
Chavez said out of all those children, over 25,000, or about 25 percent, were found in the Rio Grande Valley.
In the past three years, border agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector encountered about half of the more than 425,000 unaccompanied migrant children who unlawfully entered the country.
Border security and immigration policy are key issues in the upcoming election due to record levels of illegal border crossings during President Joe Biden‘s administration.
Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly pledged to carry out the largest mass deportation plans in history at nearly every campaign rally throughout the election cycle.
Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign national press secretary, told Newsweek that they will conduct “the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals.”
“Like President Trump said, he will make provisions for mixed-status families, and he will restore his effective immigration policies, implement brand new crackdowns that will send shockwaves to all the world’s criminal smugglers, and marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human traffickers in American history,” Leavitt said in an emailed statement.
“The only ‘plan’ Donald Trump has to secure our border is ripping mothers from their children,” Harris campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz previously told Newsweek.
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, who represents California’s 18th district, previously told Newsweek: “Trump is proposing to go in and rip the dad out of that household and leave the mom and kids on their own. That’s something all Americans should be concerned about.”
