A mother and her 4-year-old son were reunited by U.S. Border Patrol agents and the Alton Police Department Thursday after being separated by a smuggler.
The Honduran mother was with a group of illegal immigrants arrested near La Gloria.
During processing, the woman told agents that her son was at a stash house in McAllen. She said smugglers told her the two would be reunited in Houston.
The mother provided agents with the phone number of the suspected smuggler. Agents called the number to verify the woman’s claim. Shortly thereafter, agents received a call from a man claiming to be the child’s father, stating that he had received an anonymous phone call from an individual who said he had dropped the child off at a park in Alton.
The agents relayed the information to officers from the Alton Police Department, who immediately responded to the call and found the boy at a park next to the police station.
The mother and son were reunited at the Rio Grande City Station.
“Thanks to the determination of the agents involved and the assistance of the Alton Police Department, this complex situation was resolved,” Chief Patrol Agent Rosendo Hinojosa said. “Without their hard work and thoroughness, this could have had a very different outcome.”
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