Texas border patrol finds 2 girls abandoned at border

Two children were abandoned at the southern border by smugglers who fled back to Mexico. The children were left with nothing but a handwritten notes to give to the authorities.

Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Chris Olivarez said that troopers recovered two little girls as the Eagle Pass crossing. The girls, ages five and nine, were from El Salvador and both had handwritten notes with an address and phone number, according to the Daily Mail.

The case of the two little girls getting recovered at the border comes as there has been a large increase in unaccompanied immigrant children (UIC) coming to the border with notes that have the phone number and address of a "sponsor" in the United States.

Oftentimes cartels and smugglers will bring children to the border with a piece of paper with contact information of someone in the United States. The children are referred to Border Patrol under DHS, who then refer them to the Department of Health and Human Services who release the children to sponsors.

However, the system has come under scrutiny, as many children have not been tracked while in the United States, and thousands of them may be unaccounted for due to HHS not issuing the minors notices to appear in immigration court and others simply not showing up. A report from the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General revealed that over 30,000 childre were not brought to immigration court and another 291,000 were not given notices to appear.

When this is the case, children are at higher risk for trafficking, exploitation, as well as forced labor. During the Biden administration, there has been a surge of unaccompanied minor children, with some 500,000 total coming into the country.