Source: Breitbart
A U.S. Border Patrol surveillance video leaked to Breitbart Texas shows a human smuggler dropping two small children from a border wall near Santa Teresa, New Mexico. The children, ages 3 and 5, were transported to a local hospital for evaluation, according to a law enforcement source.
A law enforcement source told Breitbart Texas the incident occurred at about 7 p.m. Tuesday night approximately four miles west of El Paso, Texas, in the Santa Teresa Area of Operations. The source is a veteran law enforcement official with knowledge of the incident but who is not authorized to speak to the matter.
The source told Breitbart a human smuggler scaled the international border wall near Santa Teresa. The source described the wall as a section of the older wall technology that is about 14-feet in height. A second smuggler handed a child up the fence to the smuggler who proceeded to lower and then drop the child to the ground. Seconds later, a second child is dropped to the rough terrain below the wall.
After Breitbart published this article, El Paso Sector Border Patrol officials issued a press release and the video to the general public.
The two human smugglers can be seen running back to Mexico after dropping and abandoning the two tender-age children who officials described as sisters.
“That could have been anyone’s children or grandchildren being dropped and abandoned by these smugglers,” the veteran law enforcement official said. “It’s really heartbreaking.”
“This video shows the real cruelty of these smugglers,” the official stated. “They have no feelings about the humanity of these people. They are just ‘cargo’ to them.”
Border Patrol officials identified the two children as Ecuadorian girls, ages three and five.
The video shows the three-year-old girl landing awkwardly on the uneven surface. She lays facedown and motionless for nearly 20 seconds before struggling to stand up. The second girl’s feet slip out from under her as she lands, slamming her tailbone to the ground. She also struggles for a few seconds before getting up.
The smuggler tosses some kind of package to the ground before retreating back to Mexico and leaving the helpless girls to fend for themselves.
“No one was waiting for these children on the U.S. side of the border,” the law enforcement source explained. “The smugglers know Border Patrol monitors this area with cameras and assume they will respond.”
The area is described as a landfill located about a mile from any roadway. “The children would have no idea where to go if Border Patrol agents did not find them,” the source said.
Border Patrol agents from the Santa Teresa Station did respond to the children and provided first aid before arranging transportation to a hospital for examination, Border Patrol officials stated.
Doctors cleared the two little girls medically and released them to Border Patrol custody. Border Patrol is holding the girls pending placement by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services workers.
“It’s really tough to see what happens to these victims,” the source said. “It makes me very sad and emotional — it breaks my heart.”
Choking back an emotional reaction, the official said, “Every life is precious, but when you see children being treated with such callous disregard, it takes it to a whole different level.”
El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez said, in a written statement, “I’m appalled by the way these smugglers viciously dropped innocent children from a 14-foot border barrier last night. If not for the vigilance of our Agents using mobile technology, these two tender-aged siblings would have been exposed to the harsh elements of desert environment for hours.”
“We are currently working with our law enforcement partners in Mexico and attempting to identify these ruthless human smugglers so as to hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Chief Chavez added.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Face
Editor’s Note: Subsequent to the publication of this article, U.S. Customs and Border Protection released the video and a press release that provided additional information about the incident. This article has been updated to include facts presented in their press release.
