5-year-old says she crossed border alone — one of 160 kids found in a week, feds say

More than 160 unaccompanied migrant children were found near the U.S.-Mexico border between Feb. 4 and Feb. 11, according to a news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Among them was a 5-year-old girl from Guatemala, who was found walking along Texas Loop 480 on Feb. 7. She told border agents from the Eagle Pass Station that she had crossed the Rio Grande by herself, the release said.

Two days later, agents came across a group of four unaccompanied minors, including a 5-year-old girl from Honduras, one 14-year-old, and two 16-year-olds, on Feb. 9. All four children had crossed the Rio Grande near the Del Rio port of entry within an hour of each other, the release said.

Those children are a small part of the recent increase in the number of minors found traveling alone near the border, officials say.

From October to December, the Del Rio sector encountered 2,280 unaccompanied minors, an increase from the 1,305 children discovered during that quarter in 2020.

During fiscal year 2021 — between Oct. 1, 2020 and Sept. 30, 2021 — border agents recorded 146,925 encounters with unaccompanied minors at the Southwestern border, according to data on CBP’s website.

According to the agency, when agents encounter migrant children, they transport them to the nearest Border Patrol station to be identified and to check them for any health issues. Then coordinators “work to transfer unaccompanied minors to the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement and Health and Human Services,” the release said.

The Del Rio port of entry sits on the border between Texas and Mexico about 385 miles southwest of Fort Worth.

This story was originally published February 11, 2022 at 3:14 PM with the headline "5-year-old says she crossed border alone — one of 160 kids found in a week, feds say."