Jennie Taer, Ryan King, Carl Campanile and Chris Nesi
NY Post
A two-year-old migrant girl was found at the US border Sunday clutching a piece of paper with just a first name and phone number on it – becoming the heartrending symbol of the Biden administration’s abject failure to protect the most vulnerable of asylum-seekers.
The child from El Salvador, clad in a bright pink jacket, was among a group of more than 200 illegal migrants – including 60 unaccompanied minors – detained after crossing the border into Maverick County, Texas, authorities said.
Footage of the little girl outraged pols in sanctuary city New York and beyond who ripped President Biden and “border czar” Vice President Kamala Harris over the nation’s immigration debacle.
“It is unspeakable that an innocent two-year-old girl was abandoned by her parents and exposed to vicious threats from criminal human traffickers who care nothing about human life,” said Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn – long a fierce critic of Biden and Harris on immigration – to the Post.
“By refusing to enforce the law, the Biden-Harris administration continues to put vulnerable children at risk, including hundreds of thousands of migrant kids they lost track of since taking office,” she said.
House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn) called the situation “unconscionable.
“In a hearing just last week, a whistleblower and former HHS employee revealed the Biden-Harris administration has routinely failed to properly screen and vet sponsors of these children in order to expedite processing amid the border crisis,” Green told the Post in a statement.
“Putting optics over safety has led to countless children in danger or unaccounted for. This refusal to protect vulnerable alien children from abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking will be one of the defining failures of the Biden-Harris administration.”
New York City Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) told the Post he was infuriated when he watched the video of the little girl.
“It’s heartbreaking. I have a two-year old grandson and five-year-old granddaughter. It makes my blood boil. We can only imagine how much this poor kid suffered,” said the pol from the Big Apple – which has been grappling with the migrant crisis for the past several years.
“No civilized person in his right mind could imagine this. The solution is to secure the border – the children are the innocent victims here,” Holden said.
The Texas Department of Public Safety released video of its interview with the tot, who said she was traveling alone as she answered a slew of questions.
When a cop asked her where she was going, the child was filmed saying: “With my mom and dad.”
Asked where her parents were, she responded: “United States.”
The harrowing footage comes as well over 529,000 migrant kids have entered the US under the Biden administration, according to the latest Customs and Border Protection data.
A shocking report released in August revealed that the administration has lost track of more than 320,000 of the migrant children who have crossed the border without parents.
Texas immigration authorities said cases such as the unidentified little girl in pink are especially tragic because local officials often never learn what happens to the kids.
“It’s very concerning when we come across any type of child that’s coming across the border alone, especially on a piece of paper, just we don’t know exactly what happens to them on their journey and where they ended up afterwards,” Texas DPS Lt Chris Olivarez told The Post.
The girl’s tale is “a stark example of the precarious journey these children make from their home country and how criminal organizations traffic these children across the southern border and further into the interior,” he wrote in a thread on X sharing the heartbreaking footage.
“Regardless of political views, it is unacceptable for any child to be exposed to dangerous criminal trafficking networks.”
From Texas to New York, lawmakers panned the Biden administration for the policies that enabled the toddler’s tragic story.
“The tragic story of this little girl arriving alone and stranded at the border is the direct result of four years of dangerous and deadly Democrat policies,” said Rep Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), adding that Biden, Vice President Harris, and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas all share the blame, but refuse accountability.
“I am anxious and excited to get to work with Tom Homan and the strong and decisive leaders President Trump has tapped to fix our border so that we can ensure that travesties like these never happen again in our country,” he continued.
Rep Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) said what the footage showed wasn’t surprising given the White House’s disastrous lax border policies of the past four years.
“It is heartbreaking, and this should never be encouraged by our government. Sadly, the Biden administration’s policies have only incentivized this and has led to child trafficking, sex trafficking and over 300,000 children missing,” she told the Post.
Congressman Mike Lawler, a Republican who represents the lower Hudson Valley, said, “To see unaccompanied children crossing the border to find their parents is horrific and emblematic of just how broken our immigration system currently is.”
Staten Island Borough President and former Congressman Vito Fossella added, “This is gut-wrenching.
“How does this happen? This is the fruit of a poisonous policy. This is why Donald Trump won the election,’’ the GOPer said.
“The sight of this two-year-old girl alone puts in sharp focus that the border policy has to change.”
The White House did not respond to a Post request for comment Monday.
President-elect Donald Trump’s border enforcer Tom Homan has already vowed to crack down on illegal crossings – and is planning to inspect the border with Texas Gov Greg Abbott later this week.
Homan, who served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Trump’s first term, revealed last week that he will employ the US military to perform “non-enforcement” duties to aid in the deportations of illegal migrants.
– Additional reporting by Taylor Waters and Emily Crane.
This article was originally published by the New York Post and republished by MRC NewsBusters.
