(NewsNation) — Attempting to cross the U.S. border and reach refuge in America, many people turn to cartels who help people cross illegally. But that comes with risks, as one 18-year-old found when the smugglers abandoned him and left him in a desolate area of Texas.
NewsNation’s Ali Bradley was with the Terrell County sheriff when he undertook a rescue mission for the teen, Hector, who had been left behind after crossing.
Hector signaled to a game camera, showing himself and his Mexican passport, prompting Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland to launch a rescue mission.
From the state of Puebla in Mexico, Hector said he fell behind so the group of 10 he was traveling with left him as smugglers helped people travel through the mountains, evading border agents.
He’d been camping alone in a rancher’s RV for two days, fashioning a flag out of a pillowcase and some piping to try to alert someone to his need for help. By the time Cleveland arrived, Hector was distraught and in tears.
“I want to go home to my mother,” Hector told the sheriff in Spanish. “They left me in those hills and I went to the ranch looking for help.”
He told Cleveland he got left behind because he couldn’t keep up with the others.
Hector, a mechanic, said he left Mexico because the cartel tried to get him to work for them and he wanted out as quickly as possible.
“They threatened me in Tehuacan if I didn’t work for the narcos, because I was indebted to them,” he said. “So I focused on getting out of Tehuacan as soon as I could.”
Hector said he paid about 50,000 Mexican pesos to cross, the equivalent of about $3,000 U.S. dollars. He was expected to pay an additional $3,000 when he reached Indianapolis.
Hector was traveling to Indianapolis in hopes of reaching his father, who is currently working as a roofer. Hector said his goal was to eventually return to Mexico and get the rest of his family. He told NewsNation he didn’t cross at a port of entry and ask for political asylum because his entire family was threatened and his plan was to go back and get them.
Cleveland said in his 26 years working for Border Patrol and his time as sheriff, he has never seen someone as desperate or in rough shape as Hector.
Cleveland told NewsNation that his office has recovered 37 bodies over the past three years. On average, he said before that the office would see about one deceased person per year.
The sheriff took Hector to a hospital after he was located, where he was treated for a condition where his muscles were deteriorating from overuse. That’s what led to him falling behind the group in the first place.
After Hector was released from the hospital, he was returned to Mexico.