A small child was thrown off the border wall in San Diego: agents who tried to help him were fired upon

Authorities on both sides of the US-Mexico border are trying to find who threw a 4-year-old boy off the San Diego border barrier, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said. The edition told in more detail CNN.

The incident took place around 21:00 pm on May 15 about half a mile (800 m) east of the port of San Ysidro. Surveillance video captured the moment the child was thrown over the barrier by someone trying to enter the country illegally. The wall consists of a steel fence 18 to 27 feet (4,8 to 8,1 m) high.

Then the rescuers who helped the injured child came under fire.

"Agents reported hearing gunshots north of their location," CBP said in a statement. "Since emergency medical services, the San Diego Fire Department and the child were still at the scene, the agents told everyone in the area to hide."

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The agency said a CBP Air and Marine Operations helicopter arrived at the scene to provide air cover.

The boy was not seriously injured, US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said.

“The baby is all right. Don't trust the smugglers," Ortiz tweeted.

A two-way investigation is underway to identify the suspects, and additional agents have been dispatched to the area, CBP said.

90% of recent immigrants who entered illegally were deported

About a week after the boy was thrown over the border barrier, the chief of the CBP Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley issued a public warning about the illegal border crossing.

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“Today, not only adults are being deported, but also families,” Chief Gloria Chavez wrote in Spanish on the main CBP Instagram account. “This is an exodus for those people who decide to enter the country illegally.”

Against the background of the deportation plane, Chavez said that 90% of migrants who entered the country illegally were deported from the United States.

Chavez showed a video of the deportation of single adults and families with children. She urged migrants to use legal routes to enter the country.