Smuggler drops young girls from border wall, flees leaving kids by themselves in desert

U.S. Border Patrol agents rescued two young children who smugglers dropped from the border wall and abandoned near Mount Cristo Rey, officials said.

An agent stationed in Santa Teresa, using a camera, caught a smuggler dropping a 3-year-old girl and 5-year-old girl from a 14-foot-high border wall onto the U.S. side of the border Tuesday evening near Mount Cristo Rey, U.S. Border Patrol officials said.

The agent then alerted other agents to the area to recover the girls, who are sisters and from Ecuador, officials said.

A video of the incident shows a smuggler climbing the wall, grabbing one of the girls by the arms, lowering her partway and then dropping her to the ground.

The girl hits the ground with her feet and then falls on her face.

She stays lying on her stomach for a short time and appears to be touching her face.

As she slowly attempts to get up, the smuggler grabs the second girl by the arms and drops her from the wall.

The second girl lands on her backside and is slow to get up.

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The smuggler then throws an unknown item next to the girls.

He then jumps onto the Mexico side. He and another person are seen fleeing from the scene.

The video ends with the girls standing by the fence on the U.S. side with the two smugglers running away on Mexico's side.

Agents got to the girls, who were left in a remote area in the desert. The girls were alert when agents reached them, and agents provided first-aid to them.

The girls were then taken to the Santa Teresa Border Patrol Station for evaluation by medical personnel, officials said.

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Agents contacted Emergency Medical Services, and the girls were taken to a hospital for precautionary reasons and further evaluation, officials said.

The girls were medically cleared and currently remain in a Border Patrol temporary holding pending placement by U.S. Health and Human Services, officials said.

“I’m appalled by the way these smugglers viciously dropped innocent children from a 14-foot border barrier last night,” El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gloria I. Chavez said in a statement. “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.”

She continued, “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.”

Aaron Martinez may be reached at 915-546-6249; aamartinez@elpasotimes.com; @AMartinezEPT on Twitter.