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Shocking footage has been released showing a 'coyote' people smuggler abseiling a seven-year-old migrant girl from El Salvador down the side of a 30-foot tall California border wall and then abandoning her in America with no food or water.

The surveillance video, posted on Twitter by US Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Greg Bovino, shows the little girl's terrifying ordeal as she is dumped on US soil after making the perilous 2,670 mile trip from El Salvador to Mexico, reportedly by herself, before being trafficked across the US-Mexico border.

The incident took place at around 9:25am Tuesday just two miles west of the Calexico Port of Entry in California, close to the All-American Canal in the state's Imperial Valley.   

Shocking footage has been released showing a 'coyote' people smuggler abseiling a seven-year-old migrant girl from El Salvador down the side of a 30-foot tall California border wall and then abandoning her in America with no food or water

In the footage, the seven-year-old child is seen clinging to the back of a male smuggler as he scales the 30-foot US/Mexico International Boundary Fence and dangles down a rope ladder

In the footage, the seven-year-old child is seen clinging to the back of a male smuggler as he scales the 30-foot US/Mexico International Boundary Fence and dangles down a rope ladder.

The smuggler lowers the child to the ground and then abandons her there, fleeing back over the wall the way he came.

The heartbreaking footage shows the small child alone, after being left with no food or water to survive, and walking along the side of the border wall. 

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a news release that agents had spotted what was happening on the surveillance systems at the El Centro Station.

Fearful that the coyote might drop the child from the 30-foot wall in a bid to escape, the agents decided to wait until the child was on the ground before they approached.

'Agents immediately recognized the dangerous situation created by the human smuggler and decided to wait for the child to be safely on the ground before making their approach,' the CBP said in a statement. 

'This decision was made out of caution, believing that the smuggler might panic and drop the child, resulting in serious injury or death given the height of the border wall.' 

The smuggler lowers the child to the ground and then abandons her there, fleeing back over the wall the way he came

The heartbreaking footage shows the small child alone - who has been left with no food or water to survive - walking along the side of the border wall

The smuggler had instructed the child to walk north.  

This placed the child in further danger, the CBP said, as just north of the border wall is the All-American Canal.

The canal is known as the most dangerous body of water in the US, with treacherously fast currents and a depth of up to 20 feet. 

Dozens of migrants have drowned in the waterway this year alone amid desperate efforts to cross into America.  

Border Patrol agents, aware of the possible deadly situation, immediately rescued the child, finding her about 50 feet north of the border.

They carried out a welfare check on the seven-year-old and escorted her to a vehicle, before taking her to the El Centro Sector Processing Center.

The smuggler had instructed the child to walk north. This placed the child in further danger, the CBP said, as just north of the border wall is the All-American Canal (above)

The surveillance video was posted on Twitter by US Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Greg Bovino who slammed the 'callous smuggler' for putting the young child in 'grave danger'

There, she was medically evaluated and found to have suffered no injuries. 

According to the CBP, the little girl had made the journey from her home in El Salvador alone.

When she arrived in Mexico, she was taken to a house for several days with other children.

From there, she was then trafficked across the US-Mexico border. Unaccompanied children arriving in the US from across the border are sent to live with a relative, if they can provide information for one.

If not, they're kept in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement until they turn 18, although some may be fostered before then. 

Border Patrol has not commented on whether the child caught on camera has a US-based relative who can now care for her.  

Chief Bovino slammed the 'callous smuggler' for putting the young child in 'grave danger' as he vowed to pursue the prosecution of child traffickers to 'the fullest extent.'

'No one, let alone a child of any age or race, should be exposed to the multitude of dangers when crossing illegally into this country,' he said. 

'Smugglers will always view children as a commodity to gain a profit, disregarding the safety and well-being of any individual except their own.'  

Overall, more than 1.5 million migrants have been apprehended at the border in the 2021 fiscal year - more than treble the 458,000 in 2020

The child is one of more than 132,000 unaccompanied minors who have been apprehended by Border Patrol after crossing the US's southern border so far in the 2021 fiscal year.

This is more than quadruple the number of unaccompanied children encountered in the whole of 2020, when 33,000 were detained at the border.   

It comes as the US continues to struggle to cope with a surge in migrants crossing the US-Mexico border in recent months. 

Overall, more than 1.5 million migrants have been apprehended at the border in the 2021 fiscal year - more than treble the 458,000 who crossed in 2020. 

Thousands of Haitian and Latin American migrants have flocked to the border, with almost 28,000 Haitian migrants encountered by Border Patrol agents in fiscal year 2021. In 2020, the number was 4,395. 

Last month around 15,000 mostly Haitian migrants camped near a bridge in Del Rio, Texas.

They did so after the Biden administration told Haitians already in the US illegally that they could stay there due to unrest in their home country.

That prompted subsequent deportation flights, with the president blamed for sending messages that encouraged Haitians to risk their lives to come to the US.

At least 12,000 of the 15,000 who did come were ultimately released into the US after being taken into custody and processed.  

Now, agents have been told to brace for the possibility of up to 400,000 migrants crossing the border in October.

This would be almost double the 21-year high seen in July when 210,000 crossed the border.  

Migrants from Haiti spend a night at a base camp before trekking through the infamous Darien Gap on their journey towards the United States  

Mostly Haitian migrants break camp at sunrise before trekking through the 66-mile stretch of undeveloped, unpoliced rainforest