Smugglers Separate Seven-Year-Old Girl from Her Mother
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
EDINBURG (News Release) – Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Sector Border Patrol agents disrupted three migrant smuggling attempts that resulted in 11 arrests and an attempt to locate a seven-year-old separated from her mother.
On Jan. 21, agents working at the Falfurrias Border Patrol (FLF) Checkpoint referred a vehicle to the secondary inspection area following an initial immigration inspection. During questioning, agents determined the passenger, a Mexican national, was unlawfully present in the United States. A search of the vehicle revealed two other migrants hiding in the back seat. All subjects were placed under arrest and escorted into the checkpoint. During processing, the passenger claimed her seven-year-old daughter was traveling in another vehicle with four unknown people. Agents were able to contact the child’s father, who was awaiting his family in the U.S., who advised agents that he was reunited with his daughter, and she is in good health.
Also on Jan. 21, a McAllen Border Patrol Station agent was patrolling the levee road in Hidalgo, when he observed a ladder on the border wall. Suspecting illicit activity had occurred, he relayed the information to nearby agents. Responding agents observed a red Jeep Cherokee departing the area and conducted a vehicle stop on the vehicle, approximately 16 people fled into the nearby warehouses in an attempt to abscond. Agents apprehended the driver, a Mexican national, and four migrants unlawfully in the United States from the Dominican Republic and Honduras.
On Jan. 23, a FLF agent attempted to conduct a vehicle stop on a Chrysler Pacifica near the Brooks County rest area. The vehicle failed to yield and led the agent on a pursuit. The pursuit ended when the driver jumped out, leaving the vehicle in drive. Four other subjects also fled the moving vehicle into the brush. The agent was able to stop the vehicle before it veered back onto the highway. A Salvadoran unaccompanied 16-year-old migrant and a Honduran adult male were apprehended in the brush shortly thereafter. The driver was not located.
