A 4-month-old baby and an 18-month-old toddler were found abandoned by smugglers in an Arizona desert on Friday, a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent said.
The big picture: Hundreds of migrants have died at the southern border over the last few years, with 557 deaths recorded by the U.S. Border Patrol in the 2021 fiscal year.
- Earlier this year, 53 migrants died inside a tractor-trailer in San Antonio, Texas in one of the deadliest border incidents involving migrants in modern history, per AP.
- Two men were later indicted on charges that include conspiracy to transport and the transportation of illegal migrants resulting in death.
What they're saying: "This is cruelty. And it is gut-wrenching," John Madlin, the Chief Patrol Agent of the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, said in a tweet.
- Modlin said that agents found the infant unresponsive in the Sonoran Desert, but were "able to revive her and avert tragedy."
- "The heartlessness of smugglers cannot be underestimated," he added.
