U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector agents on Friday saved two migrants who were drowning in the American Canal near the Ysleta Port on Entry.

Border Patrol Agents assigned to the Ysleta Station received a call from an off-duty El Paso Station Border Patrol Agent about two people scaling down the border barrier by Midway Drive and the Cẻsar E. Chảvez Highway/Loop 375.

Agents searched the area and saw the two jump into the canal, a news release said.

The two tried to stay afloat as the current swept them downstream.

Agents immediately requested Emergency Medical Services and the El Paso Fire Department to help rescue the migrants. Soon afterward, a Border Patrol agent supported himself on a canal ladder rung and was able to safely rescue the migrants with the use of a rescue rope flotation device.

The migrants from Ecuador and Brazil were rescued approximately 1.5 miles from where they initially entered the canal. Both were provided with medical aid and subsequently were transported to the El Paso Modular Centralized Processing Center for further processing.

“Had it not been for the life-saving efforts of our Border Patrol Agents, these individuals could have easily drowned,” El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gloria I. Chavez said in the news release. “I am extremely proud of the heroic actions by our agents. This event once again illustrates that our agents will place themselves in harm’s way, or go any length, to render aid to those in need.”

During Fiscal Year 2022, El Paso Sector agents have performed more than 404 rescues. Twenty-six of those rescues were water-canal related. The El Paso Sector registered 56 migrant deaths.

Twenty of these deaths were water-canal related.

Also on Friday, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office at 1:45 p.m. was dispatched to an irrigation canal near the 14100 block of Riverside Road over a body that had been discovered by employees of the El Paso County Water Improvement District. The 42-year-old victim has been identified, but the Sheriff's Office is working on next of kin notification with the Mexican Consulate. The victim was a migrant crossing into the United States, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.