EAGLE PASS, TEXAS– A pregnant Venezuelan migrant illegally swam across the Rio Grande with her three-year-old daughter and went into labor on the U.S. side of the border, her husband disclosed to The Daily Wire.
Sitting behind the razor wire fence with the three-year-old that he said is his wife’s daughter, the man said he and his wife crossed because they did not want to wait to come legally.
“He was saying that his wife was pregnant, that her water broke… here on this side while they were waiting,” Lt. Chris Olivarez from the Texas Department of Public Safety explained after translating his interview. “National Guard took her to the hospital to get her medical treatment.”
Illegal Immigrant Says His Pregnant Wife Just Went Into Labor On U.S. Shore Of Rio Grande
The two migrants arrived in Eagle Pass, where Gov. Greg Abbott recently took control of Shelby Park in an effort to secure the border. This effort included expelling the border patrol, installing barriers, and ordering National Guard troops and law enforcement to patrol.
Olivarez confirmed that the child will be an American citizen if it’s born on U.S. soil.
“To be that far in your pregnancy, they have to know more or less when she is going to give birth in order to cross on this side and cross here in the United States,” he said. “We see that a lot — where a lot of pregnant females who are coming across, they will wait usually, when they are about to give birth. Then they’ll cross into the United States and they’ll have the baby that same day. or they’ll have it right at the river as they are crossing.”
Prior to being patrolled by the state of Texas, Shelby Park had thousands of people crossing and turning themselves in to be processed and allowed entry into the United States by border patrol.
“They want to get caught,” Olivarez said, “They know the system, they’re looking for border control because they know the process already: come across, look for the green uniform and turn yourself in … chances are you’re going to get released into the country.”
With Texas in control, migrants are either arrested for illegally trespassing into the park, told to swim back, or wait in hopes that border patrol picks them up. The exception is a medical emergency like a woman going into labor.
“They use the children in those types of situations because they know, obviously, that there is a human side to us,” Olivarez said.
Olivarez scolded the man for crossing the dangerous river with a small child, explaining that there is an average of one drowning a day.
“It’s maybe just about shoulder height for an average person…one misstep and it’s going to take you under, or the current is going to take you, especially with a child,” he said. “There’s really no way to rescue that child because the current is so strong.”
“I understand they are desperate, but they are really placing their children in danger, especially crossing the river,” he said.
He added that he is frustrated the federal government is not preventing the crossings
“To them, it’s fine. When it involves the state of Texas when we put up barriers, well that’s inhumane or that’s cruel, yet we are trying to prevent people from crossing so we don’t see situations like this, so we don’t have anyone drowning, especially children. We’re the only ones really trying to prevent that.”