Border Patrol Agents Resuscitate Drowning Infant Migrant

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents resuscitated a drowning infant migrant after his mother attempted to illegally cross the Rio Grande into Texas on Wednesday.

Riverine agents patrolling near Roma, Texas, heard screams coming from a woman attempting to cross the Rio Grande illegally from Mexico in a makeshift raft. As the agents approached in their boat, they observed the woman and her infant child going underwater, according to information obtained from Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol officials.

The agents quickly moved into position and pulled the woman and the infant into the boat. Agents observed the baby was not breathing and began immediate first aid. The infant recovered and began to breathe on his own, officials stated.

The agents transferred the mother and child to ground-based agents who arranged transportation to the Mission Regional Hospital for evaluation and treatment.

Border Patrol agents are frequently forced to attempt rescues of parents with infants or small children who place themselves and their child in danger by attempting to cross the border river in nothing more than kiddie pools.

Rescues of migrants in these highly dangerous makeshift rafts are becoming commonplace in the Del Rio Sector. Eagle Pass Station agents came upon a potentially deadly situation on May 16 when they observed one of these inflatable rafts capsize and toss its occupants into the Rio Grande, the San Antonio Express-News reported. “Five of the nine migrants were children,” Express-News reporter Silvia Foster-Frau wrote. “They all began to scream. One agent jumped into the river to save a 7-year-old boy, who had separated from his float and was going under in the swift current.”

The agents managed to pull the migrant family to safety. That is not always the case. Earlier this month, Breitbart News reported that a migrant infant drowned in the Rio Grande after a raft of this type flipped and tossed the occupants into the river. Two other people, including another small child, drowned from this incident and others are missing.

U.S. Border Patrol Chief of Law Enforcement Operations Brian Hastings told reporters during a press call on Wednesday that the number of rescues of migrants is increasing dramatically this year.

“So far this fiscal year, the men and women of the Border Patrol have done over 3,000 rescues,” Hastings told the reporters. “We’ve seen a massive increase in the amount of water-related rescues that are taking place — primarily in Del Rio, RGV, and Laredo’s areas of operation.”

“Water-related rescues alone have gone up 907 percent this fiscal year,” the chief explained. “They’ve (the rescues) have gone from 51 in Fiscal Year 18 to 514 during Fiscal Year 19. That means, a lot of times, risking their lives to save the lives of others.”