Monday, Border Patrol authorities saved a 1-year-old toddler who had been dropped off by a smuggler at the southern border. The youngster had been left at the edge of the Colorado River.
Under President Joe Biden, the number of people crossing the southern border has skyrocketed. This has raised both humanitarian and national security concerns.
“A smuggler took a one-year-old Guatemalan boy across the border and left him to fend for himself along the Colorado River on Monday afternoon,” U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said in the tweet that accompanied the horrific footage. “A terrible thing didn’t happen because our agent acted quickly!”
On the footage, a person from Mexico is seen coming out of the sea with a toddler. Then, he puts the one-year-old on the ground alone by the river and runs back to Mexico quickly. Luckily, a border agent saw the infant fall and drove over to save him or her in about a minute.
Reports say that the child has been found, but his or her identity is not being made public to preserve the child’s privacy.
Border Patrol spokesperson John Mennell stated, “The child will be taken care of by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement.”
Ortiz followed up the post with a picture of the border guard and the youngster that was saved.
Since Biden took office, the situation at the southern border has only gotten worse, making it harder for the Border Patrol to send people back. Notably, Biden made amendments early on to get around Title 42, which the Trump administration utilized during the outbreak to send people home because they were a threat to public health.
A document given to Border Patrol is believed to have read, “Beginning April 21, 2022, OFO will increase its ability to process noncitizens who might be eligible for an exception to Title 42.” “Factors that make an exception more likely are a physical or mental illness, a disability, pregnancy, not having a safe place to stay in Mexico (if you’re under 21 or over 70, including with your family), or evidence that a person has been threatened or hurt in Mexico.”
The government has been trying for a long time to get rid of Title 42, but this is still going through the courts. Experts on the border have cautioned that getting rid of the program will make the situation at the southern border even worse.
Biden has recently tried to say that his administration and Democrats actually support border security, while Republicans are attempting to stop it.