Smugglers throw 6-month-old girl into river near US-Mexico border, Texas officials say

A 6-month-old girl dumped in the Rio Grande River earlier this month was rescued at the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, officials say.

The rescue happened March 16 in Roma, a south Texas town about 105 miles from Monterrey, Mexico.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said the infant’s mother suffered a broken leg when she was assaulted by smugglers in Mexico.

Smugglers then threw the girl out of a raft and into the river, the department said.

The woman paid smugglers $3,500 to cross the border, said Department of Public Safety Lt. Christopher Olivarez, KVEO reported. She and her baby were reportedly among 68 adults and 151 children crossing the river.

She has been reunited with her daughter in U.S. Border Patrol custody, Olivarez told the outlet.

The South Texas Special Operations Group, part of the Texas Rangers, helped border patrol with the rescue, officials said.

“This specialized group is a highly trained tactical team whose primary responsibility is to carry out specific missions, usually along the Texas-Mexico border region or wherever needed,” DPS said. “The team is designed to conduct both overt and extended covert operations in remote areas where conventional law enforcement cannot operate.”

Roma is a new epicenter of illegal border crossings, the Associated Press reported last week.

As of Sunday, 17,650 migrant children were in U.S. government custody at the border, according to CNN.

Republican officials, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, have called the situation at the border a “full-blown crisis.” President Joe Biden said in his first press conference last week that “nothing has changed” at the border.

The Washington Post found migration patterns to the southern border routinely increase in the spring when the weather gets warmer.

“The reason they’re coming is that it’s the time they can travel with the least likelihood of dying on the way because of the heat in the desert, number 1,” Biden said. “Number 2, they’re coming because of the circumstances in their country.”

This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 8:38 AM with the headline "Smugglers throw 6-month-old girl into river near US-Mexico border, Texas officials say."