Honduran woman gives birth in freezing temperatures at US-Mexico border

Weather near the ‘Rio Grande felt even colder than the 30 degrees,’ officials say

A pregnant woman has been found after crossing the US border by the Rio Grande having given birth in freezing temperatures, officials have said.

On Friday evening, McAllen Border Patrol Station received an alert that a pregnant Honduran woman “in distress” somewhere in the brush near the Rio Grande, and initiated a search, US Customs and Border Patrol (USBP) said in a statement.

“As agents conducted their search, they received additional information that the woman had given birth,” the release said.

Not long after, an agent found the woman and confirmed that she had given birth, despite the conditions feeling below freezing.

“The temperature near the Rio Grande felt even colder than the 30 degree weather experienced throughout the Rio Grande Valley last night,” the release said.

The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) were called immediately once Agents wrapped the woman and child in Mylar blankets and placed them in a Border Patrol vehicle until help arrived, the agency said.

The woman and baby were eventually transported to a nearby hospital. The release did not provide any information on the condition of the mother or baby.

The agency also did not disclose what would happen to the woman or her newborn upon their discharge from the hospital.

USBP did not immediately return The Independent’s request for further comment on the incident.

Border Patrol agents often respond to women close to giving birth or in labor, but the agency has said previously that it does not record how often this occurs.

In this case, as with many others, the agency condemned human smugglers for transporting people across the border despite the coronavirus pandemic.

They accused them of having “zero regard for the lives they endanger nor to the health of the citizens of our great nation.”

A similar incident occurred in December last year when another Honduran woman gave birth after being pushed across a nearby river in a tire in the South Texas borderlands.

The agency has said in the past that US birthright citizenship laws “could lead some to cross illegally as they are giving birth.”

Advocates say government policies to deter migrants push desperate people into more dangerous situations. Hundreds of people die each year trying to cross the border.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press