This week, Mexican authorities discovered a 2-year old boy alone near an abandoned migrant truck headed to the US border from South America.
The boy was found standing among garbage bags, snack wrappers, abandoned clothing and half-empty water bottles, according to Reuters, who first reported the discovery of the boy. The child had reportedly been traveling on a truck carrying over 100 migrants from South and Central America to the US-Mexico border. The passengers had urged the truck driver to pull over as some of the passengers were beginning to pass out from dehydration and heat exhaustion.
When authorities approached, most of the adults fled. Eight adults remained and spoke to the law enforcement officers, describing the conditions in which they had traveled and the conditions of their home countries. None of the eight adults said they were related to the child. The boy has been taken into custody by officials and was later photographed clothed and being cared for by Mexican agents.
The discovery comes as large numbers of Central and South American migrants have illegally crossed the US-Mexico border this year, according to Customs and Border Patrol. Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to South America last week and spoke to some Central American girls who were being held at an El Paso detention center.
After the visit, the Vice President reiterated the need for care and precision in dealing with the ongoing fallout from the controversial Zero Tolerance immigration policy implemented by the Trump administration in 2018, saying “We’re talking about children. We’re talking about families. We’re talking about suffering. And our approach has to be thoughtful and effective.”
