A mother in South Carolina has admitted to paying a smuggler to bring her 4-year-old daughter from El Salvador to the United States. The child was found alone by Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers on Sunday, November 24.
The girl is currently in U.S. Border Patrol custody, and her mother, who identified herself as Patty, said she was notified when her daughter was discovered at the border.
“I found a coyote [smuggler], and I paid for them to bring her to me,” Patty told NewsNation. She explained that she had left her daughter with smugglers in Honduras and Mexico, hoping they would facilitate their reunion in the U.S. However, she lost contact with the smugglers before her daughter’s arrival.
“I last spoke to my daughter on Saturday,” she said. “The coyote told me they handed her over to someone else, but I don’t know anything more.”
Patty revealed that smugglers typically charge $4,500 per person for such journeys. Despite paying the fee, she stated that the smugglers stopped responding to her calls.
“They told me their job was done once my daughter was delivered to immigration,” she added.
Patty, who had previously been deported alongside her daughter after a failed attempt to enter the U.S., returned using a smuggler and later saved money to pay for her daughter’s crossing. She is now waiting for federal authorities to release her daughter into her custody.
The 4-year-old was found near Maverick County, Texas, with a group of over 200 migrants apprehended by DPS troopers. Among them were 60 unaccompanied children aged between two and 17, according to DPS spokesperson Lieutenant Chris Olivarez.
“Regardless of political views, it is unacceptable for any child to be exposed to dangerous criminal trafficking networks,” Olivarez wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The discovery is part of Texas’s Operation Lone Star, launched in 2021 by Governor Greg Abbott. The $11 billion initiative involves the Texas Department of Public Safety and the National Guard working to combat human and drug smuggling. Since its inception, more than 900 children have reportedly been rescued from abandonment or trafficking.
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