Watch: Texas Troopers Rescue Migrant Boy, 5, From Smugglers

Texas troopers rescued a 5-year-old child who was injured while crossing the rugged U.S.-Mexico border after being abandoned by a human smuggler.

Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers, in collaboration with U.S. Border Patrol agents, rescued the child, originally from Guatemala, on Monday as part of an anti-smuggling operation in the Rio Grande Valley and intercepted a group of migrants attempting to cross the border unlawfully.

The child is just one of hundreds of unaccompanied minors who were encountered at the southern border on Monday, according to reports by NewsNation.

DPS drone surveillance captured a raft crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico, carrying a group of four individuals.

The group, consisting of three adults and a child, was dropped off by the raft.

A vehicle, driven by Javier Alexander Osorio Ruiz, then picked up the group, allegedly attempting to transport them further into the United States.

However, Ruiz abandoned the group in a brush area after the smuggling attempt failed.

During this time, the child sustained minor injuries from cactus thorns.

Troopers later intercepted Ruiz, who was arrested and charged with federal human smuggling offenses by the U.S. Border Patrol.

A Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) trooper looks over the Rio Grande at the U.S.-Mexico Border on March 23, 2021 in McAllen, Texas. Texas troopers rescued a 5-year-old child who was injured while... John Moore/Getty

The child received medical treatment for the minor injuries, and authorities learned from the child's mother that a family member in California had paid a smuggling organization to facilitate their unlawful entry into the U.S.

Lieutenant Chris Olivarez, a spokesperson for the DPS-South Texas, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "Great work by both agencies working together to disrupt criminal activity along the TX-MX border & saving the child from further danger."

The Del Rio Sector has seen a slight increase in encounters with unaccompanied minors, with 1,215 such cases reported in November, up from 1,170 in October, per NewsNation.

Authorities discovered a 10-year-old boy who crossed the border on Thanksgiving Day.

A 4-year-old migrant girl who traveled alone from El Salvador to the United States was found by authorities on November 24.

The girl, carrying only a piece of paper with a phone number and a name, told a DPS trooper that her parents were already in the country.

Speaking on the increase in unaccompanied children being found at the southern border, GOP Representative Mark Green, chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, previously told Newsweek: "Cartel smugglers have subjected hundreds of thousands of vulnerable migrant children to an immense amount of danger, and the Biden-Harris administration has only supercharged their operations through its open-border policies.

Amy Fischer, Director of Refugee and Migrant Rights at Amnesty International USA, previously told Newsweek: "Because of our broken border policies, many parents make the impossible decision to send their children to the U.S. for safety because they know they will face removal if they enter as a family unit.

"It is because of broken border and immigration policies that separate families, make it nearly impossible for families to reunite in the U.S., and block families from exercising their human right to seek safety together."

More than 900 children have been rescued from abandonment and human smuggling as part of the state's ongoing Operation Lone Star, according to the DPS.

In 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott launched Operation Lone Star, a policy worth $11 billion aimed at combining the efforts of the DPS and the Texas National Guard to combat the smuggling of people and drugs into the state.