Birth on a riverbank in Texas
Woman’s ordeal shows immigrants’ risks at border
HOUSTON — The Honduran woman walked alone through the dark brush of the South Texas borderlands after being pushed across a nearby river in a tire.
Her labor pains were getting worse. From the other side of the river, the smugglers yelled at her to keep moving.
Finally, she fell to the ground and screamed for help.
Merin gave birth to her daughter next to the Rio Grande, attended to by two Border Patrol agents, showing how lives end up at risk at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Increasing numbers of parents and children are crossing the border, driven by violence and poverty in Central America and growing desperation in migrant camps in Mexico. While crossings have not reached the levels seen in previous years, facilities that hold migrants are approaching capacity, which has been reduced because of the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday that it made roughly 4,500 apprehensions of unaccompanied immigrant children in November, more than six times the figure in April. In South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, children and their parents are usually taken to a small station where some report having to use old masks and being detained in cramped quarters.
Merin and her daughter are safe after she gave birth on Nov. 22.
“They treated me well, thank God,” said Merin, who didn’t want her last name used because she fears retribution if she’s forced to leave the country.
Agents Chris Croy and RaulHernandez were called to help by another agent who found her. Merin said the first agent told her to get up and keep walking, but
she couldn’t. She says he accused her of lying.
“When I look, I see the head of a child,” Mr. Croy said. “I just kneel down to go ahead and support the child’s head.”
Mr. Hernandez saw that Merin’s clothing was obstructing the baby’s head. He pulled out a small knife and carefully cut it away. Mr. Croy kept hold of the baby’s head.
“She had another big contraction and out came the baby,” he said.
It took another 10 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. Mr. Croy and Mr. Hernandez took clothes from Merin’s bag to keep the baby warm in the meantime.
Mother and child were hospitalized for three days, then processed at a Border Patrol station before being released to Catholic Charities. They soon boarded a bus to join family in the U.S.
Hundreds of people die each year trying to cross the border. Photos last year of a
father and daughter who drowned trying to cross the Rio Grande — not far from where Merin made her journey — were shared worldwide.
The Border Patrol blames smugglers for using people in medical distress as decoys, drawing attention from others trying to sneak into the country. In Merin’s case, agents said, the smugglers who pushed her across the river then brought through a group of five people. When agents chased the group, they went back across the river into Mexico.
The agency also said in a statement that U.S. birthright citizenship laws “could lead some to cross illegally as they are giving birth.” It didn’t have numbers on the frequency.
Under President Donald Trump, the Border Patrol has been criticized for its treatment of immigrant parents and children. Agents have been accused of refusing entry to pregnant
women or forcing them to return to Mexico under government policies restricting asylum.
The Border Patrol defends how it treats immigrants and the medical care they receive. Its parent agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said in a statement that agents’ priority in emergencies “is the preservation of life of everyone they encounter regardless of citizenship or background. The enforcement of laws becomes secondary.”
Advocates say government policies to deter migrants push desperate people into more dangerous situations.
Since the pandemic, the government has expelled more than 200,000 people within hours or days, citing a public health declaration. The Trump administration is formalizing new restrictions on immigration protections that would take months or years for President-elect Joe Biden to unwind.