10-month-old baby dead, 3 missing after migrant raft overturns in Rio Grande along Mexico border
SAN ANGELO, Texas – Authorities recovered the body of a 10-month-old child Thursday after a raft carrying migrants capsized Wednesday in the Rio Grande along the Texas-Mexico border.
Three others are missing, according to a news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“What we’re dealing with now is senseless tragedy,” said Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Raul L. Ortiz. “The men and women of the U.S. Border Patrol have been doing everything in their power to prevent incidents like this. And yet, callous smugglers continue to imperil the lives of migrants for financial gain.”
Migrants often try to cross the river, mostly in poorly constructed rafts with no safety gear, and the water can be deceptively high and fast-moving.
On Wednesday evening, Border Patrol agents from the Eagle Pass South Station detained a man on charges he illegally entered the United States. While in detention, the man told them a raft carrying nine people had overturned and his baby son and nephew had been swept into the Rio Grande.
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An adult male and female child also were among the missing, according to the release.
An intensive search operation began in the area. Shortly afterward, cries coming from the river alerted agents to a woman and a child struggling to stay afloat, according to the release.
An agent jumped into the river and rescued the pair, later identified as the wife and child of the man who made the initial report, the release states.
The 6-year-old boy was treated by Border Patrol Emergency Medical Personnel on site, and rushed to a hospital for advanced treatment, the release states.
A man and his juvenile son were found a short time later on the U.S. bank of the river. They did not require medical assistance and were transported to the Eagle Pass South Station, according to the release.
The 10-month-old boy was found deceased several miles downriver by Del Rio Sector's Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue team.
A record number of Central American families are crossing the border, some on foot and some via the river. Just last week, border agents rescued 10 people in a sinking raft in the same area, including a 3-year-old child who had become separated from her mother on the Mexico side.
During the last budget year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection rescue teams responded to more than 4,300 emergencies. There were 283 deaths, including those who drowned or died in the deserts. The high was in 2005’s fiscal year, when 492 people died.
The number of border crossings last month was a 12-year high; more than 103,000 people were encountered, including more than 53,000 people traveling as part of families.
Homeland Security officials say the system is straining under the crush of families who require different care and have different needs from the people agents and officers used to see crossing the border, mostly single men from Mexico.
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The White House on Wednesday asked Congress for an additional $4.5 billion in funding for the border. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan told a Senate subcommittee Thursday the department needed the supplemental funding to help manage the crush of migrants and to provide proper care.
But Democrats are wary of giving the administration more money, especially after the longest government shutdown in history over President Donald Trump’s demand for border wall funding. Trump eventually declared a national emergency declaration to circumvent Congress to get the funding elsewhere. The new emergency funding would not be used to build any of the wall, officials said.
Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow John Tufts on Twitter: @StandardTufts
This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: 10-month-old baby dead, 3 missing after migrant raft overturns in Rio Grande along Mexico border
