Two young girls, aged 3 and 5, dropped over 14ft US-Mexico border wall

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Two girls, aged three and five, were dropped over the US-Mexico border wall by smugglers in the middle of the night, the American authorities have said. Gloria I Chavez, the chief patrol agent at the time, said in a statement: “I’m appalled by the way these smugglers viciously dropped innocent children from a 14-foot border barrier last night.” She said that US officials are working with the Mexican authorities to identify those responsible for the act. Ms Chavez said: “If not for the vigilance of our agents using mobile technology, these two tender-aged siblings would have been exposed to the harsh elements of the desert environment for hours.” The toddlers were dropped and then abandoned just west of Mount Cristo Rey, where a border patrol camera operator spotted the smugglers using infrared camera technology. Ms Chavez, of Border Patrol’s El Paso sector — which includes parts of Texas and New Mexico — said: “We are currently working with our law enforcement partners in Mexico and attempting to identify these ruthless human smugglers so as to hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law.” Speaking with the website Border Report, Oscar Misael Hernandez, an expert investigator at Mexico’s Northern Border College said: “The smuggler men that dropped and abandoned the two minor girls in the desert toppling them off the wall near the Sunland Park, New Mexico shows that the Mexican smugglers have started to look at the migrant women and children as merchandise.” He said drug cartels are now directly getting involved in human smuggling and “especially the exploitation of minor girls and kids”.