Smuggled girl abandoned near Calexico border
Reporting from San Diego — Border Patrol agents found a 4-year-old girl soon after she was abandoned by smugglers east of Calexico on Monday morning, authorities said.
Agents stationed in El Centro spotted people crossing into the U.S. at the border near Mount Signal about 6:20 a.m. As agents approached that stretch of the Imperial Valley border, they saw one person return to Mexico, then go into a vehicle that drove away.
On the U.S. side, agents found the girl standing alone on a road, Customs and Border Protection officials said.
Once they ensured the child did not need medical care, they took her to the Border Patrol station in El Centro, where the girl was fed.
Agents interviewed the girl, who had her birth certificate with her, and determined she was a citizen of Guatemala, customs officials said.
She was turned over to Health and Human Services to await an immigration status hearing.
To read the article in Spanish, click here
david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez
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