IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. (KGTV) — San Diego Sector Border Patrol agents say they arrested a group of people entering the country illegally after witnessing a two-year-old child dropped from atop the border wall into the arms of the child's father.
U.S. Border Patrol said the agents discovered the group shortly after midnight on Sunday as individuals were climbing over the 18-foot border wall near Imperial Beach. While monitoring the group, agents using a remote video surveillance system say they observed a small child being suspended from atop the wall and dropped to someone below.
Agents arrived at the scene and arrested the group, USBP says. The agency did not say how many people were involved.
Sunday, #BorderPatrol agents witnessed a smuggler drop a two-year-old child from atop the 18-foot-high border wall into the arms of the child’s father. This event could have been catastrophic. Luckily, the child was not injured. pic.twitter.com/5uDEtbs8NW
— Chief Patrol Agent Aaron M. Heitke (@USBPChiefSDC) April 14, 2021
The child that was dropped was not injured. USBP said the child had been dropped into his father's arms by a smuggler. The father and child were found to be citizens of Ghana, the agency added.
"This event could have been catastrophic," said U.S. Border Patrol, San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Aaron M. Heitke. "It is not only unlawful, but inherently dangerous to cross the border anywhere outside of a designated port of entry."
