Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers discovered a 10-year-old boy from El Salvador crying and lost after being abandoned by human smugglers near the US-Mexico border. The child, part of a surge of unaccompanied minors arriving at the southern border, was found during Thanksgiving week—a stark reminder of the human cost of current border policies.
According to Texas DPS Lieutenant Chris Olivarez, the boy was brought into Maverick County by a smuggler who left him stranded. In video footage shared by the lieutenant, the boy tearfully explained, “They left me alone. They didn’t want to guide me.” He was carrying only a phone and said his parents were already in the US.
The boy was taken into the care of the US Border Patrol. Olivarez commented on the heartbreaking situation, saying, “Many children will not get to enjoy the holidays or see their families because they have been placed in a dire situation due to open border conditions.”
This incident is one of many involving unaccompanied minors found along the border. Just days earlier, Texas DPS recovered 60 unaccompanied migrant children, some as young as 2 years old, during an Operation Lone Star investigation. Among them was a 2-year-old girl from El Salvador, abandoned with a slip of paper containing a name and phone number.
The Biden administration’s policy directs unaccompanied children to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which places them with alleged “sponsors.” However, reports indicate that many of these children face exploitation, including forced labor and trafficking. Shockingly, over 320,000 unaccompanied minors have been reported missing under the Biden administration.
As border conditions remain chaotic, the risks to vulnerable children continue to grow. Cases like this highlight the urgent need for policy changes to protect the youngest and most vulnerable migrants from falling prey to smugglers and traffickers. Americans must question whether the current border strategy is doing enough to prevent these tragedies.
