An illegal immigrant drowned after entering the United States on Dec. 5.
Customs and Border Protection said that Border Patrol agents recovered the body in California.
Border Patrol agents saw three aliens enter the United States about two miles west of the Gran Plaza Outlets and immediately apprehended two men after they swam across the All-American Canal near Calexico. The 80-mile canal takes water from the Imperial Dam on the Colorado River in Arizona to California’s Imperial Valley.
Agents saw the third man struggling in the water but were not able to get assistance to him before he drowned.
An operation was launched to attempt to retrieve the body around 9 p.m. but heavy rain and low visibility soon forced agents to call it off.
Divers went into the All-American Canal near Calexico to retrieve the man the next morning. After around one hour of searching, they found the body about 150 yards from where he entered the water.
“This incident tragically illustrates how human smuggling organizations place migrants in perilous situations,” Chief Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez said in a statement. “This man put his trust in human smugglers and it cost him his life.”
The man has not been identified as of yet.
The two men who were with him were nationals of El Salvador.
It’s not clear if any were part of a migrant caravan. The caravans departed from Honduras and El Salvador earlier this year and recently made it to Tijuana, a city in Mexico near the border with the United States.
Some 6,400 migrants were staying at a huge camp at the Benito Juarez sports complex as of Nov. 30, when authorities began to move them about 10 miles away to a new location. On Dec. 2, The Epoch Times reported that only 2,100 migrants were at the new camp, situated 10 miles from the U.S. border. However, authorities at the new camp said they didn’t know where the missing thousands were.
Migrants said many caravan members have recently crossed the border.
Arrests in Texas
The Border Patrol said it has been arresting a number of migrants who have recently crossed the border.
Border Patrol agents in Texas arrested 63 illegal aliens in brush west of Laredo on Dec. 6, after a report of possible human smuggling inside a private ranch.
After a 3 hour search, agents found the group and confirmed they were all illegal aliens, from the countries of Ecuador, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico.
On Dec. 5, agents found five gang members who illegally entered the country in different locations in Texas, as well as two child predators.
One 18th Street gang member was nabbed near Fronton and two others were arrested near Artecitas. One man arrested earlier in the day near Artecitas was previously convicted for lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14.
Agents found an MS-13 gang member working in Los Ebanos while agents found another 18th Street gang member near Hidalgo who also had an active warrant from California for domestic violence.
The arrests on Tuesday also included a Honduran national apprehended near Roma, whose record checks revealed he had been convicted in North Carolina for indecent liberties with a child.
