9-year-old Mexican girl drowns crossing Rio Grande into US

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A 9-year-old Mexican girl drowned while trying to cross the Rio Grande into Texas this week with her family, according to federal officials.

It was the third Mexican migrant drowning at the border in less than two weeks. Last week, two migrants perished near the Texas border town of Laredo.

The girl had been crossing into the country at Eagle Pass on Saturday with her mother and 3-year-old brother when all three began struggling in the water, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman told The Post on Friday.

"All three migrants were unconscious and had washed ashore onto an island in the river when bystanders flagged down nearby Border Patrol agents," said the spokesman, Dennis Smith.

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The agents, who were patrolling the Rio Grande in the area, began administering first aid as they brought the migrants to shore.

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There, they were joined by Eagle Pass Emergency Medical Services personnel, and were able to revive the mother and the little boy.

But the girl could not be saved. She never regained consciousness and was later pronounced dead, Smith said.

"The children were Mexican nationals; the mother is from Guatemala," officials said.

"We extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of this small child," said Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Austin L. Skero II in a statement announcing the death.

"During these hard times our agents remain resilient, and I am extremely proud of their efforts to preserve human life."

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Smugglers have been doing a thriving business at the border, contributing to a surge in crossings. 

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was one in a group of lawmakers who toured the border this week, and on Friday he tweeted that smugglers brazenly greeted him from across the Rio Grande.

"That’s Mexico and you can see there are three smugglers right there standing on the Mexican side looking at us. They have been shining their flashlights at us, they are yelling at us," Cruz tweeted, narrating poorly-lit footage showing a stretch of border at night.

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"Mexican cartels control who crosses the border ," Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who also toured the border, said in her own Friday tweet.

"A young mother from Guatemala, sitting on an aluminum blanket with her 1-year-old, told me she paid smugglers $6,000," Collins said.