SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Video released by border agents shows a 7-year-old girl being carried over the US-Mexico border by a smuggler.
According to Border Patrol, agents from El Cento found a 7-year-old abandoned by a smuggler Tuesday morning.
Agents said just before 9:30 a.m., surveillance video captured a man with a small child clinging to his back on a rope ladder atop the 30-foot border fence. While watching the situation unfold, the agency said personnel decided to wait to act out of safety concerns.
“This decision was made out of caution, believing that the smuggler might panic and drop the child, resulting in serious injury or death given the height of the border wall. Just north of the border wall is the All-American Canal, which posed another physical danger to the child,” Border Patrol said.
The smuggler told the 7-year-old from El Salvador to walk north before he returned to Mexico, the agency said.
Agents took the girl to a nearby processing center to be medically evaluated and processed.
“No one, let alone a child of any age or race, should be exposed to the multitude of dangers when crossing illegally into this country” said Chief Patrol Agent Gregory K. Bovino. “Smugglers will always view children as a commodity to gain a profit, disregarding the safety and well-being of any individual except their own.”
Watch full video of the incident below:
