5K Migrants Walked Across Border over Labor Day Weekend in One TX Sector

Eagle Pass Station Border Patrol agents apprehend a group of more than 360 migrants who cr
File Photo: Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas
Bob Price

Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 5,100 migrants over the Labor Day Weekend, according to information provided by a sector official. Of those, 2,395 crossed in ten large groups in an effort by Mexican cartels to tie up Border Patrol resources in the region.

Eagle Pass South Acting Patrol Agent in Charge Gerardo Inocencio reported that ten large groups of migrants illegally crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico into Texas over the Labor Day Weekend in a video tweeted by Chief Patrol Agent Jason D. Owens. The groups totaled 2,395 of the 5,147 migrants apprehended during the holiday period. The largest group contained more than 360 migrants.

The apprehensions over the holiday weekend left 2,362 migrants in custody — well beyond the detention facility’s capacity. In addition, another 551 known got-aways, Inocencio reported. Border Patrol counts got-aways as migrants that are seen but cannot be apprehended or other tracking methods to approximate the number of migrants not apprehended along the border.

In addition to the apprehensions, agents carried out rescue operations along the Rio Grande and on ranches throughout the sector. These operations led to the savings of at least 32 lives over the weekend. Unfortunately, agents recovered the bodies of five drowned migrants and one migrant who died in a car crash.

National Border Patrol Council Local 2366 (Del Rio Sector) officials report that well over 200 migrants died in the sector during the current fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2021. This did not include the recent mass casualty incident in Eagle Pass where at least 13 migrants drowned from a single border crossing incident, as reported by Breitbart Texas.

The deaths came as a large group of migrants attempted to cross the rain-swollen Rio Grande Thursday. As some of the group made it to the Texas side of the river, they reported that many from their group were swept away by the swiftly moving currents. Eagle Pass agents found four bodies later in the day.

By Friday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials reported that 53 migrants were apprehended, including 37 rescued by Border Patrol agents from the river. Officials on the Mexican side of the river reported the apprehension of 39 others.

The Del Rio Sector led the nation in migrant apprehensions in August with more than 52,000 migrants taken into custody.

The massive number of migrants crossing into the Del Rio Sector also led to overcrowding in detention facilities. This led to the shutdown of border security field operations from time to time and Border Patrol officials pulled agents off the line to process, care for, and transport migrants became a priority.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.

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