Border Patrol agents in the San Diego area said they helped a disoriented man lost in the high desert return to his family last Wednesday.
Around 6:15 a.m., agents noticed a 69-year-old man walking along the border between the United States and Mexico. They asked him some routine questions and discovered he was a Mexican citizen.
After transporting him to a station, agents asked more questions and soon realized he had a severe cognitive disorder, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
They were able to locate the man’s family in Tijuana who told agents he suffered from dementia.
Family members had been searching for him for almost a week since he left his home in Tijuana, walked across the border and became lost in the desert in eastern San Diego County. They had even put posters along the border fence near Jacumba, about 60 miles east of San Diego.
Border Patrol agents quickly arranged for the man’s return to Mexico.
“I am proud of the tenacity of our agents who always go the extra mile. They did not cease their efforts until they located the lost man’s family in Tijuana and got him home,” San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Douglas Harrison said.
