Story By: Juan Mayes, Sub-Editor: Joana Mihajlovska, Agency: Newsflash
This two-year-old girl has been returned to her parents after being rescued from drowning in a river on the US-Mexico border when she was abandoned by a group of migrants crossing into America.
It is alleged that the migrants she had been with used the opportunity provided by border officials rescuing the child to escape into the US, but it’s not clear if the girl’s family was with that group.
The police said they found her in an area known as ‘La Cortina’ (‘The Curtain’) located in the municipality of Acuna in Coahuila in late January.
Agents from the National Institute of Immigration (INM) and the Ministry of National Defence (SEDENA) rescued the toddler from drowning after she was left abandoned by the group of immigrants who intended to illegally cross into the US.
An official report said: “While the Mexican authorities rescued the minor, the adult immigrants took advantage to cross into American territory and abandoned the girl.”
The toddler was reunited with her family in the Mexican state of Coahuila yesterday 7th February.
It is unclear if the girl’s parents were a part of the group or the events leading up to her near-fatal accident.
The two-year-old was reunited with her parents after members of INM and the Attorney for the Boys Girls and Family (PRONNIF) worked with the Chilean embassy and the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to track her parents down, who have not been named.
Identifying the tot was made easy by the fact that she was found with a plastic bag containing her birth certificate, issued in Chile in October 2018, and a visiting card for humanitarian reasons which was still in effect as she was an applicant for refugee status.
According to a recent statement from the Coahuila local government, the authorities returned the young girl after her parents “guaranteed the child’s care and protection”.
The report added that both parents filed for political asylum in the US but no more information was given.
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