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Toddler Abandoned Near New Mexico Border

A Border Patrol agent discovered this boy in a desert area near the border fence outside Sunland Park, New Mexico. He was reunited with his mother Wednesday.
Courtesy of Sunland Park Police Department
A Border Patrol agent discovered this boy in a desert area near the border fence outside Sunland Park, New Mexico. He was reunited with his mother Wednesday.

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Toddler Abandoned Near New Mexico Border

Toddler Abandoned Near New Mexico Border

Courtesy of Sunland Park Police Department

A Border Patrol agent discovered this boy in a desert area near the border fence outside Sunland Park, New Mexico.

Police in Southern New Mexico are searching for the family of a boy, estimated to be about two years old, abandoned near the border this weekend.

A Border Patrol agent found the boy after checking on a tripped sensor Saturday night not far from a chain link border fence outside the city of Sunland Park. The boy had been with a man who ran back to Mexico when the agent approached.

The boy is now in the care of a foster family with New Mexico's Department of Children Youth and Families. Police in Sunland Park don't know his name but are calling him "Adrian."

They have posted his photo on their Facebook page and are working with the Mexican Consulate to identify potential family members and determine if it's safe to return the boy.

Nationwide the number of unaccompanied minors entering the United States has tripled since 2008, many attempting to come across the South Texas border. Last year Border Patrol detained more than 24,000 migrants under the age of 18.

Mónica Ortiz Uribe was a senior field correspondent for the Fronteras Desk from 2010 to 2016.