WASHINGTON – U.S. Border Patrol agents found a 3-year-old migrant alone in a cornfield at the border between Mexico and Texas on Tuesday morning, according to Customs and Border Protection officials.
The boy, who was in distress and crying when agents found him in the Rio Grande Valley near Brownsville, Texas, was identified only by a phone number and his name written on his shoes, the officials said.
The agents have taken the boy to a U.S. border station and are attempting to find his parents using the number on his shoes, the officials said. So far, they have been unsuccessful and are in the process of transferring the boy to the care of Health and Human Services.
Rudy Karish, the chief Border Patrol agent in the Rio Grande Valley, said he believes the boy was left by smugglers. Karish said he believes the boy was with a larger group. When the group was encountered by agents, the adults ran away and left the boy alone.