On Friday, hundreds of migrants surrendered to waiting Border Patrol agents in Roma, Texas. Within the groups were dozens of unaccompanied migrant children and most appeared to be teenagers. One young man says gangs in Guatemala are the reason he is coming to the United States.
The two young men in the video seemed excited to be in the United States and spoke freely about where they were ultimately headed. The boys claimed they removed their bracelets provided to migrants by cartels in Mexico as proof of payment. Like most migrants, out of fear, they claimed to not have paid anything to the smugglers.
Both will be processed by the Border Patrol and held in custody until they can be transferred over to a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) emergency intake site. Once there, HHS volunteers will work to release them to sponsors.
The flow of unaccompanied migrant children across the southwest border is at an all-time high in 2021. According to the HHS, there were more than 17,000 migrant children in federal custody as of Friday.
These two minors were among 1,341 apprehended by Border Patrol on Thursday and Friday.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.