The mother of a 4-year-old girl who traveled alone from El Salvador to the United States has reportedly said that she paid a smuggler.
It comes after the child was found by Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers on Sunday, November 24.
NewsNation contacted a woman who claims to be the girl's mother and currently resides in South Carolina.
The 4-year-old girl is currently in the custody of the U.S. Border Patrol, who notified the mother that her daughter had been found alone at the border, it was reported.
Patty, the girl's mother, is currently in the U.S. and revealed that she left her child with criminal smugglers in Honduras and Mexico, hoping it would lead to their reunion.
"I found a coyote [smuggler], and I paid for them to bring her to me," Patty told NewsNation.
"She came alone. It was just the coyote. The last time I talked to my daughter was Saturday, and I haven't heard anything since they told me the coyote had already handed her over to another coyote, but I don't know anything else about her."
The woman said she paid smugglers who typically charge $4,500 per person to smuggle someone across into the U.S., according to NewsNation.
She also said that she did not know the smugglers she paid to bring her daughter to the U.S. and said they stopped answering her calls as her daughter neared the border.
"I had one of their numbers, but they're not answering me," Patty said. "They told me they were done with their job delivering my daughter to immigration."
Patty said that she is currently waiting for federal authorities to release her daughter into her custody.
The girl's mother claimed she had been previously deported, along with her daughter, after traveling from Honduras to the U.S.
Patty returned to the country with a smuggler and saved enough money to pay a coyote to bring her daughter across the border.
Newsweek has contacted Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for comment.
The 4-year-old arrived alongside a group of more than 200 migrants who entered the U.S. unlawfully near Maverick County and were apprehended by DPS troopers.
Lieutenant Chris Olivarez, a spokesperson for the DPS-South Texas, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that troopers found 211 undocumented immigrants, including 60 unaccompanied children, ranging in age from two to 17.
"Regardless of political views, it is unacceptable for any child to be exposed to dangerous criminal trafficking networks," he said.
According to DPS, more than 900 children have been rescued from abandonment and human smuggling as part of the state's ongoing Operation Lone Star.
In 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott initiated Operation Lone Star, a policy worth $11 billion aimed at combining the efforts of the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Texas National Guard to combat the smuggling of people and drugs into the state.
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