Three sisters from El Salvador were rescued from an islet on the Rio Grande after they were reportedly abandoned by immigrant smugglers near the U.S.-Mexico border.
The children, aged six, nine, and one, were found huddled together on the islet. The 9-year-old was holding her baby sister when a task force with the National Institute of Immigration responded to a call from Mexico’s National Guard that the three girls were missing, Daily Mail reported.
A video of the three girls getting rescued was shared by the Mexican government late last week.
The three girls were turned over to Mexico’s System for the Integral Development of the Family, the government said in a press release.
According to Fox News, the Isla del Mudo, where the girls were found, has strong currents that claim the lives of illegal immigrants who attempt to cross. Unaccompanied children can wind up alone at the border after they are abandoned by human traffickers or separated from their parents.
In 2021, a video surfaced of two Ecuadorian sisters being dumped by smugglers over the border wall. The girls were only 3 and 5 years old, according to the New York Post. Reportedly, the girls’ paternal grandfather said his son paid the smuggler to take the kids to the border to reunite with family in the states.
CBS reported that in fiscal year 2022, nearly 130,000 illegal immigrant children entered the U.S. government’s shelter system. Under law, HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement is in charge of housing unaccompanied children who do not have a legal immigration status or can be released to a sponsor. While many are teenagers, some are young children who are abandoned or lost.