Girl, 4, saved from smugglers in El Paso
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- HSI special agents rescued a 4-year-old Guatemalan girl and an infant from smugglers on November 8, 2024.
"On Nov. 7, HSI special agents received information that members of a transnational criminal organization had separated a mother from her child before they were smuggled separately into the United States," officials explained. "The young girl was smuggled through one of the area ports of entry. Border Patrol agents encountered the mother after she had entered the country illegally."
Officials say the smugglers had separated the children from their parents. HSI then found where the young girl was and Border Patrol agents were able to find her riding in a car near Las Cruces. They also found the infant, described as being about six weeks old, in the car. HSI is working with the Mexican Consulate to find his parents.
“Two innocent children are out of harm’s way today because of the swift joint effort among HSI and our law enforcement partners without which this story could have had a much different, and possibly, tragic ending,” said Jason T. Stevens, special agent in charge of HSI El Paso. “Human smugglers put the lives of migrants in peril for the sake of greed, and this case is a stark reminder of the inherent dangers of the journey of people who entrust their lives and those of their loved ones to them.”
The 4-year-old and her mother were reunited on November 8, 2024.
Agents apprehended 26-year-old U.S. resident Jenneyra Escamilla-Juarez and charged her with human smuggling. She made her first appearance in federal court yesterday and remain in custody. Her first detention hearing is scheduled for November 15, 2024.
