Mystery at the Border: Boy With Writing on Shoes

3-year-old found alone in cornfield on Tuesday
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 24, 2019 10:30 AM CDT
Mystery at the Border: Boy With Writing on Shoes
A 3-year-old boy found near the US-Mexico border is seen at a Texas border station on Tuesday.   (Customs and Border Protection)

The popular kids show PAW Patrol flashed on a computer screen at a Border Patrol station in Texas on Tuesday. In front of the screen sat a 3-year-old boy officials had just found crying alone in a cornfield in the Rio Grande Valley near Brownsville, not far from the US-Mexico border—with only his name and some phone numbers written on his shoes. As the boy, who appeared healthy, took in some entertainment, Customs and Border Protection tried to track down his family using the numbers provided. Unsuccessful, officials are now working to transfer the boy to the care of Health and Human Services, reports NBC News.

It's believed the boy was traveling with a group of smugglers who fled as agents approached. It's not the first such case in South Texas and "unfortunately it won't be the last," Rodolfo Karisch, head of the Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley sector, tells CNN. "This incident highlights the dangers faced by migrants at the hands of smugglers," he says. "Children, in particular, are extremely vulnerable." Some 8,975 unaccompanied minors were seized at the border last month, per NBC. Some were as young as 2, per the Washington Post. The paper adds there were 1,350 unaccompanied minors held in cells in March "because HHS had nowhere to put them." (More migrants stories.)

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