Border Patrol agents on Monday saved a drowning woman who had illegally crossed the US border with Mexico, officials said.
The rescue happened around 9 a.m., when a group of immigrants being taken into custody told the agents they had left a woman behind in the All-American Canal, US Customs and Border Protection said in a release.
“Agents responded to the location and heard the woman yelling for help,” the release said. “Agents were able to climb down the berm and waded through the vegetation to reach her.
“Agents were able to pull her out of the canal.”
The All-American Canal System is an 80-mile in southeastern California that is fed by the Colorado River, the Bureau of Reclamation said.
The woman was not seriously injured and she and four others taken into custody were taken to the El Centro Sector Processing Center for processing, officials said.
Agents from the border patrol’s El Centro sector, which covers the Imperial Valley in Southern California, have rescued 234 immigrants since October after they were abandoned by smugglers, lost, or in distress, the agency said.
Last month, Border Patrol agents rescued a drowning immigrant child in the Texas portion of the US border with Mexico.
In that case, agents followed the boy’s footprints and found him struggling to keep his head above water in a nearby pond. One of the agents tied a rope around his waist and jumped in to save the youngster.