2-year-old found without family among group of migrants near Rio Grande

Border Patrol agents found an unaccompanied 2-year-old child among a group of 38 migrants near the Rio Grande and near Roma on Tuesday, April 19, 2022. (Courtesy photo)

A 2-year-old child was found with a group of dozens of migrants near the Rio Grande on Tuesday, border agents said, noting the child wasn’t accompanied by any family members, and further noted that the number of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border is increasing once again.

Agents from the Rio Grande City station who were working near Roma found a group of 38 people near the river at 1:30 a.m. A 2-year-old Honduran boy carrying his birth certificate, which included his “father’s information handwritten on the back,” was among that group, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a news release Wednesday.

Border Patrol EMTs determined the boy was in good health and transported him to the station, the release read.

Border Patrol agents found an unaccompanied 2-year-old child among a group of 38 migrants near the Rio Grande and near Roma on Tuesday, April 19, 2022. (Courtesy photo)

CBP said there have been over 38,000 unaccompanied children crossing the border during the first six months of 2021-22.

“This year’s encounters are outpacing last year’s encounters for the same reporting period,” CBP said in the release, noting that agents try to identify children’s families by “information written on articles of clothing or handwritten notes found among their property.”

Citing CBP data and noting the criticism the Biden administration has faced due to phasing out Title 42, the public health policy that kept many migrants from crossing since the pandemic, the Associated Press reported Monday that over 220,000 migrants were stopped at the Southwest border last month — an increase of 33% from the previous month.