Texas farmer finds young migrant girls abandoned near border without food, water
A Texas farmer found five migrant girls abandoned on his ranch amid a steady stream of people crossing the Rio Grande to get from Mexico to the United States.
"I found them about, probably around 8, 8:30 in the morning," Jimmy Ray Hobbs told Fox News’ Bill Melugin Tuesday. "They had been there all night."
He said he found the girls, ranging in age from 11 months old to 7 years old, on a blanket on his property Sunday, north of Eagle Pass. One showed such severe signs of dehydration that Hobbs initially thought she was dead.
"Those poor little kids – they don’t know what’s going on," Hobbs said. "They were dumped… left to whatever. I guess they felt like somebody would eventually find them. Luckily we did."
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The girls had no food or water, temperatures were rising, and the Border Patrol had its hands full with an influx of border crossers, Hobbs said.
So he called one of his workers who could speak Spanish, and they gave the children supplies and shelter.
Three of them are from Honduras and two from Guatemala. The farmer said he reached out to Border Patrol and had trouble getting through.
Melugin said he and his news crew witnessed large groups of migrants crossing the river for four days straight – including a group of 53 people Tuesday who traveled to the border from Venezuela.
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Hobbs, who is in his 70s, said he’d lived in the area his entire life and had never seen such an influx before.
"It's just getting worse now, because they know they can come and stay, so they're just going to keep coming," he said. "There's no end to it now."
Border Patrol agents in the immediate area have apprehended more than 5,000 people in the past week, according to authorities.
The Biden administration is facing growing criticism over its handling of the border crisis – which the president routinely declines to acknowledge as such an issue.
Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, tweeted a heartbreaking photograph of the girls on Hobbs’ ranch. "@POTUS enough is enough let’s work together to solve this crisis."
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As for Hobbs, he said that not every child abandoned by smugglers will be found, and things could get a lot worse.
"People are gonna have to realize this is not gonna work," he said. "This is bad for everybody. It’s bad for those little kids. It’s going to be bad for our country. It’s going to be bad for our kids."