Children under 8 and 2 were traveling alone when they were abandoned to their good fortune. For two weeks they went hungry and thirsty until another migrant, realizing that no one was accompanying them, rescued them.
Two Salvadoran girls, ages 2 and 8, were rescued on the Texas border after being in grave danger after being left to their fate on their way to the United States where they would reunite with their mother. .
the journalist Víctor Hugo Castell, Telemundo News correspondent, He interviewed the little ones who in tears recounted how they survived the hunger, thirst and danger they were exposed to for two weeks on their way through Mexican territory.
Genesis, 8, and Susana, 2, left El Salvador on August 10. The eldest of them said her mother sent for them. The girls were traveling alone, there was no adult to accompany them.
Read also: INFOGRAPHICS: How many unaccompanied Salvadoran children have been detained on the US border?
“When we were left lying … we couldn’t stand it (we were) hungry and thirsty,” Genesis said trying to contain the tears.
Another migrant, identified as Juan David, realizing that they had no one to accompany them and they were left behind decided to help them.
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“I asked who they are from. They don’t come alone. They told me, and they left them here,” the young man told Telemundo. “I started helping them, I gave them water because they were drowning, crying,” the good Samaritan added.
The girls carried with them the phone number of their mother, who lives in Dallas. News Telemundo made a video call so that the minors could talk to her.
Also: “Unprecedented.” The US detained 212,672 migrants in July, the highest figure in 20 years
“Be brave my girls, don’t be afraid,” the woman is heard saying over the phone as the eldest of the girls who seems traumatized begs her in tears to go for them.
“Mommy we got lost, we couldn’t find mommy … please come … mommy, come on. I can’t stand mommy anymore, I want to be with you … mommy”, were the little girl’s pleas.
The minors were placed in the custody of the border patrol, waiting for their relatives to claim them.
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2,023 Salvadoran migrant children detained in 4 months
According to data from the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), from October 2020 to February of fiscal year 2021, 2,023 Salvadoran children were arrested who were walking alone on their way to in the United States.
The data show that minors traveling alone account for 53% of all confiscated migrants; followed by family groups with 30% and adult migrants.
In July 2021, CBP said that in that month of 2021 alone, 212,672 migrants were detained at the southern border, an unprecedented number in the United States.
The July figure represents an increase of 13% compared to June and the highest figure in 20 years, said the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, during a press conference on August 13.
Mayorkas revealed the figure as part of his visit to the southern border in Texas amid the new rise in the number of migrants crossing the border into Mexico undocumented.
“We are finding an unprecedented number of immigrants crossing the southern border,” the official stressed, stressing that the majority, about 52%, are adults.