Border Patrol agents find 5-year-old girl dropped alone at U.S.-Mexico wall
U.S. Border Patrol supplied this footage of a 5-year-old Guatemalan girl running along the border wall about 10:45 a.m. Monday. The agency said someone dropped off the child alone at the end of a wall just west of San Ysidro Point of Entry.
SAN DIEGO — U.S. Border Patrol agents found a 5-year-old Guatemalan girl running along the border wall in San Ysidro after she’d been dropped off alone, the agency said Tuesday.
About 10:45 a.m. Monday, agents spotted someone leaving the child at the end of a border wall just west of the San Ysidro Point of Entry, the agency said in a news release.
The girl walked north along the Tijuana River channel into the United States, the agency said. Surveillance video shows the girl running along the wall, her ponytail swinging.
Border Patrol agents picked her up and brought her back to a nearby station. The little girl told them her parents were in the United States, but she did not have contact information for them.
She also told agents that her 7-year-old cousin was still in Mexico with an unidentified man.
The agency said it contacted both the Guatemalan and Mexican consulates.
“Sadly, this is the latest example of how the most vulnerable populations are being exploited for financial gain,” Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke said in the news release. “Thankfully our agents encountered this child before any harm could befall her.”
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
