A 4-month-old infant and an 18-month-old toddler were found in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert on Friday, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent.
The young children were left in the desert, which is located in the south of Arizona and borders Mexico, by smugglers “to die,” according to a tweet from John R. Modlin, chief patrol agent of the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector.
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“This is cruelty,” he said in the tweet. “And it is gut-wrenching. I commend our agents for their quick response to this dreadful incident and to every incident in which migrant lives are at stake.”
The 4-month-old infant was found unresponsive, but patrol agents were able to revive her, according to Modlin.