Border Patrol agents in South Texas found a 7-year-old unaccompanied minor in the custody of a human smuggler 80 miles north of the Texas-Mexico border.

Agents assigned to the Falfurrias Immigration Checkpoint in Brooks County, Texas, observed a 2013 Dodge Caravan approaching for inspection on June 23. Agents referred the driver, a female U.S. citizen, to the secondary inspection station, according to Rio Grande Valley Sector officials.

The woman presented documents claiming the two children inside her vehicle were her children. Further investigation revealed one of the children was not her own, officials stated. Instead, officials identified the child as an unaccompanied minor from Honduras. The minor was not related to the woman or to the child, officials stated.

“It is truly concerning when a child is encountered unaccompanied in the hands of a smuggler,” Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Patrol Agent Manuel Padilla, Jr. said in a written statement, “It is equally frustrating when a smuggler uses their juvenile child as an accessory to commit such a crime.”

Agents arrested the woman for human smuggling.

Border Patrol agents frequently tell Breitbart Texas that they find people attempting to use unaccompanied minors as some form of shield against deportation when they are found near the border. In this case, the unaccompanied child is transported surreptitiously into the U.S. interior for unknown reasons by a non-related adult who is an American citizen.

“To find an unaccompanied illegal immigrant child with a non-related adult 80 miles inland is particularly disturbing,” Brooks County Sheriff Benny Martinez told Breitbart Texas. “We also find unaccompanied minors being forced to march through very dangerous conditions through ranches to get around the summer heat.”

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, GAB, and Facebook.