Large Migrant Group Crossings Spread to Far Southeastern Texas Border

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents working in the southeastern tip of Texas report larger than normal migrant group crossings. Agents apprehended more than 250 migrants in two days.

Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Patrol Agent Glori I. Chavez tweeted photos of large groups of migrants being apprehended during the past two days by Brownsville Station agents. “So far, a total of 258 migrants have been encountered near (the) Fort Brown Golf Course in Brownsville, Texas,” the chief reported.

The majority are families followed by single adults from #Venezuela, #Colombia, #Nicaragua, #Ecuador, and more. Migrant groups of this size are not commonly seen in this area. Well done #USBP team!

— Chief Patrol Agent Gloria I. Chavez (@USBPChiefRGV) December 22, 2022

The chief reported the groups consisted of mostly family units and single adults from Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. She noted that groups of this size are not normally encountered in this portion of the sector.

Until recently, the Rio Grande Valley Sector had been the busiest in the nation for migrant border crossings. That changed over the past few months as migrant crossings moved in larger numbers to the El Paso and Del Rio Sectors.

During the month of November, agents in this sector apprehended nearly 28,000 migrants, according to unofficial Border Patrol reports reviewed by Breitbart Texas. Official numbers for November apprehensions have yet to be released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. Normally, those numbers are released around the 15th of the month. Responding to an inquiry from Breitbart, CBP officials said the reports will be “published in the next few days.”

In the meantime, the Biden Administration put a gag order on CBP and Border Patrol employees, Breitbart’s Randy Clark reported this week. The source, operating under the umbrella of CBP, said the message from higher up is intended to curb routine disclosures of migrant apprehensions near the southern border.

Prior to the gag order, several sector chiefs would provide unofficial weekly updates that included the number of migrant apprehensions in their sector. That practice appears to have stopped.

“The CBP source is alarmed by the policy’s intent to remove highly visible images and real-time statistics from the public domain,” Clark wrote. The source told Breitbart Texas the new directive will allow DHS to control the narrative as the looming border crisis is expected to worsen after Title 42.”