Who are Yareli and Yasmina? Sisters, 3 and 5, thrown over Mexico border wall by smugglers reunite with parents
Two Ecuadorean sisters who were seen being dropped over the United States and Mexico border wall by smugglers have reportedly been reunited with their parents. Yareli, 3, and Yasmina, 5, were back with their parents on Saturday, April 17.
This came weeks after disturbing surveillance camera footage released by US Customs and Border Protection showed a smuggler dropping them one after the other over a 14-foot high steel barrier on March 30 in New Mexico. Border Patrol agents subsequently rushed to the remote location and rescued the children, the Daily Mail reported.
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Ecuador's consul general in Chicago Humberto Jiménez said on Wednesday, April 21, that Yareli and Yasmina were in CBP custody for 13 days. On April 13, they were transferred to the US Department of Health and Human Services' Office in Chicago before they were reunited with parents Diego Vacacela and Yolanda Macas. The children met their parents in New York, as per the Ecuadorean government.
"We were in contact with the Resettlement Office and two other agencies were in charge of the matter, and also with the parents of the minors. The family reunification took place Saturday per the ORR's order," Jiménez told Spanish news agency EFE. While speaking to the Daily Mail, Jiménez said he was not at liberty to reveal additional details of the reunion. According to the outlet, the parents had been living in the tri-state area since migrating from Jaboncillo, Ecuador, years ago. "They have asked us for privacy and at the request of the parents, we had direct contact, but very limited," Jiménez explained. He also wouldn't say whether the children had already applied for asylum, nor confirm if the parents are residing in the United States legally.
Speaking to Univision, the girl's paternal grandfather Lucio Vacacela said that Macas had become distraught without her children and so the parents decided to hire human smugglers to transport the girls across the border. According to Daily Mail, those smugglers were none other than Yarelia and Yasmina's grandmother Rosa Delfín and their uncle Ángel Vacacela.
The two smugglers took the children and left Ecuador for Mexico on March 27 and were captured on camera three days later at the southern border dropping them onto US soil. That said, the whereabouts of Delfin and Vacacela are still unknown.
Smugglers, under cover of night, scaled a 14 ft. border barrier and cruelly dropped 2 young children in the middle of the New Mexico desert. The girls, ages 3 & 5, were left miles from the nearest residence. Thank you STN Agents for rescuing these children! @CBP @CBPWestTexas pic.twitter.com/U91y2g8Lk1
— Gloria I. Chavez (@USBPChiefEPT) March 31, 2021
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas called Border Patrol agents who rescued the children "heroic". "The inhumane way smugglers abuse children while profiting off parents' desperation is criminal and morally reprehensible," he said in a statement. "In March alone, a young girl died by drowning, a 6-month-old was thrown into the river, and two young children were dropped from a wall and left in the desert alone."
According to data released by the CBP on April 8, the number of migrants entering the US illegally has risen to unprecedented levels. Agents apprehended a staggering 172,331 migrants in March after stopping 101,028 people in February, marking a 70 per cent increase from January and a 20-year record high. Meanwhile, CBP also reported that 18,663 unaccompanied children were taken into custody in March, which is a whopping 99 per cent increase from the 9,271 minors who illegally crossed over to the US from Mexico in February.
