Smugglers leave children at US-Mexico border: US Police

Two little Ecuadorian girls were shot down in the middle of the night from the top of a four-meter (14-foot) wall on the U.S.-Mexico border before being picked up by U.S. officers.

The children, ages 3 and 5, were taken to a customs and border protection (CBP) headquarters in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, on Tuesday evening to be assessed by medical personnel. They were then brought to a provincial hospital as a precaution. The CBP said the girls remain under the agency's supervision.

"On Tuesday night, a Santa Teresa agent using camera technology spotted a smuggler leaving two young children from the top of the nearly 14-foot-high (four-meter-high) border fence," the CBP said Wednesday. a statement said.

"I am shocked at the way these smugglers maliciously dropped innocent children off a 14-foot border last night," Chief Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez said in the declaration.

Chavez stated U.S. agents are working with Mexican authorities to identify those responsible.

"If these agents were not vigilant using mobile technology, these two older siblings would have been opened to the harsh parts of the desert environment for hours," Chavez said.

The US is facing an increase in migrant and refugee arrivals on the southern border of the country, mostly Central Americans fleeing poverty and violence in their own countries. Recently, an average of 500 children crosses every day without supervision.

President Joe Biden's government is facing increasing pressure to address the situation and criticize the way unaccompanied minors are cared for in US government oversight.

According to Raul Benitez Manaut of the National University of Mexico, the change of administration in the U.S. has given hope to immigrants and refugees, increasing the number of people trying to cross the border.

"One of the most important elements of Biden's policy is about underage minors," he told Al Jazeera, adding that this has led to an increase in children arriving from Latin American countries.

According to official statistics, as of Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services had 12,918 migrant and refugee children in their care, while CBP was responsible for caring for another 5,285.