8-year-old boy found abandoned near U.S. border, El Paso agents say

An eight-year-old boy was discovered alone near the U.S. border after being abandoned, Border Patrol agents said.

Officers working at the Paso Del Norte international crossing in El Paso, Texas found the boy around 6 p.m. on Nov. 8, a Nov. 9 release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.

The boy told border agents that he had been dropped off at the base of the bridge in Mexico and “told to walk until he ran into someone in a uniform,” the statement said.

Officers brought the child to the El Paso port , and he was determined to be in good physical condition, the statement said.

Agents said they were able to get in contact with someone in Virginia believed to be the boy’s mother. They also notified the Guatemalan consulate about the child, the statement said.

The boy was transferred to the Border Patrol Centralized Processing Center in El Paso and will later be remanded to the Department of Health and Human Services, the statement said.

The El Paso processing center has previously been criticized over footage and photos from the inside, which showed “immigrant teenagers sleeping on mats in crowded conditions, separated in groups by plastic partitions,” The Associated Press reported in March.