Federal agents find girl wedged under front seat and behind dashboard (KGTV-TV, San Diego)
Posted on 01/05/2005 10:36:39 PM PST by nanak
Federal agents find girl wedged under front seat and behind dashboard (KGTV-TV, San Diego) |
A 10-year-old Mexican girl was found stashed behind the dashboard of a car in the latest innovative attempt to smuggle illegal aliens across the border.
U.S. agents found the child tightly wrapped up behind the dashboard and under part of the front seat of a Toyota Camry during an intensive investigation of the vehicle at the San Ysidro border station, the world's busiest border crossing connecting San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico.
According to KGTV in San Diego, "The vehicle and its two adult passengers were escorted into the secondary inspection station at about 5:30 a.m. on Dec. 31, 2004, after an officer processing the vehicle noticed what appeared to be a person's leg under the front passenger seat."
Officers are said to have worked for 30 minutes to unwedge the girl from the car. She is reportedly in good condition and will be used as a material witness in the case.
The adults, a 47-year-old woman from Chula Vista, Calif., and a 19-year-old man who resides in Tijuana, are both U.S. citizens and have been taken into custody on charges of attempted smuggling.
Customs officials are concerned about the rising trend of minors entering the U.S. illegally. The number of infants and youngsters caught trying to enter California from Mexico jumped to 6,748 in 2004, up close to 17 percent from 2003.
In November, another creative smuggling attempt at San Ysidro involved a 5-year-old Mexican girl being stashed inside a piñata, which, ironically, was in the shape of a smiling girl with outstretched arms.
"We plan to continue to work closely with Mexican officials, community organizations and the media to bring attention to this disturbing trend in an effort to educate undocumented families not to entrust their youngsters to smugglers," Adele Fasano, director of field operations for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in San Diego, told the station.
I'd make this child a ward of the State.
There are plenty of people looking to adopt children. And this child was recklessly endangered by her parents.
If this child was smuggled into the country for a better life...she'd be better off without her parents, who would do this to her.
No good parents would do such a thing to a child. Risk her life --- and that had to be a horrible experience for the little girl. It's what happens when they believe it's a burden sending money back when she could bring in the government handouts here.
ROFLMAO!!
I knew you were a smart lady, I had no idea you were so funny!
She deserves better than those so called 'parents'.
Ye know, stories like this really bother me. So many childless people, who would do anything to have a child to love and cherish...and some parents inflict crap like this on innocent kids. Makes my blood boil.
the pinata girl was also smuggled by US citizens, and those citizens were released, even though they were smuggling 3, not one, individuals. At least these are going to be prosecuted. The downside of their enterprise is less than a legal resident's, who would have his papers taken away and would be deported.
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