(NewsNation) — Just this week, dozens of children were found alone at the U.S.-Mexico border, including a 10-year-old boy who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border on Thanksgiving Day and a 4-year-old girl from Honduras found by officials.
According to Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Chris Olivarez, more than 100 unaccompanied children have encountered agents on the nation’s southern border since Sunday, Nov. 24.
“I want the American people to see the impacts of this current border situation that we’ve been in for the last three plus years, and how it impacts unaccompanied children are coming across that border,” Olivarez told “NewsNation Prime.”
According to Olivarez, the children they’ve encountered ranged from 2 years old to 17 years old.
The unnamed 4-year-old girl had a note with her when she encountered agents, with a phone number and first name. Her mother told NewsNation she is already in the U.S. and said she left her child in the hands of criminal smugglers in Honduras and Mexico in hopes of being reunited.
“I found a coyote and I paid for them to bring her to me,” the woman said. “She came alone. It was just the coyote. The last time I talked to my daughter was Saturday, and I haven’t heard anything since they told me the coyote had already handed her over to another coyote, but I don’t know anything else about her.”
It’s “all too common,” Olivarez explained, adding that he fears the influx of unaccompanied minors will only get worse.
“It really shows the inner workings of how these criminals are operating, also how some of these family members, if they are family members in fact, how they even allow their child to make this long, precarious journey to United States at the hands of criminals,” he added.
Olivarez pointed to “whatever agreement” the Biden administration made with Mexico to get its border crossings numbers down, saying: “There is no safety mechanisms. There is no protocols in place to protect unaccompanied children.”
The 4-year-old’s mother shared photos of her daughter with NewsNation.
The photos, sent to the mother by a human smuggler while her daughter was still in Mexico, show more children in the background.
The mother tells NewsNation that her daughter is still under U.S. immigration custody and it’s unclear if or when she will be released to her in South Carolina.