Exclusive Photos: Migrants from Around the World Stream Across ‘Closed’ Border into Arizona

LUKEVILLE, Arizona — More than 300 migrants walked through open storm drain gates in the border wall just west of Lukeville to surrender to Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents early Tuesday morning. Breitbart Texas watched as the migrants queued at the border wall before walking through the Organ Pipe National Monument Reserve, hoping to gain release into the United States. The group included migrants from several African nations, India, Pakistan, Ecuador, and Peru.

Of the more than 300 migrants making the trek through the desert reserve, few could speak Spanish or English. Some of the migrants who identified themselves as Senegalese nationals spoke French and a few words in broken English. Others spoke Arabic and Hindi. In what has become a common occurrence in the busiest Border Patrol Sector in the nation, the migrants walked unabated into the United States throughout the night until the entire group of more than 300 amassed at a rally station set up by the Border Patrol.

At the rally point, migrants were provided water and slept as they awaited the morning march to a nearby highway where Border Patrol agents would take basic biographical information and sort the migrants into groups for transport to a processing facility. Some of the migrants used bottled water to bathe as they waited. Others slept on the desert sands while waiting for further instructions from the lone Border Patrol agent tasked with maintaining order through the night.

The lone Border Patrol agent replenished the water supply and enlisted the help of several migrants to pick up trash and water bottles near the border wall. Those migrants choosing to help walked through the group and collected the empty bottles, placing them in large plastic trash bags. The noble effort left almost no noticeable dent in the volume of garbage found at the nightly rally spot.

The unguided walk to the highway commenced shortly after sunrise when the lone Border Patrol agent instructed one English-speaking migrant to follow the path and avoid the steep border road over a nearby peak.

Border Patrol agents in the vicinity spoke about the difficulty of dealing with migrants from so many countries in one single group. The language barriers between the migrants and the agents who only speak English and Spanish created huge delays in the hours-long process of interviewing and processing the migrants.

One agent told Breitbart Texas the task of debriefing the migrants on their intentions for entering the country is made nearly impossible by the language barrier, as they must resort to telephonic interpreter services to complete the processing.

“We pretty much assume their purpose for coming to the United States is for us to release them as quickly as possible,” an agent professed.

With much frustration, the agents spoke about being relegated to little else beyond accommodating the nightly incursion of hundreds of migrants, only to see them released into the United States a few days later.

“We hardly patrol beyond this area,” one agent explained.  “We have no idea what’s crossing beyond where those who surrender come through the fence.”

In August, Border Patrol agents in the Tucson Sector apprehended nearly 49,000 migrants, according to unofficial reports reviewed by Breitbart Texas. The number is a more than 160 percent jump from the 18,506 apprehended in August of 2022.

According to CBP, between October and July, more than 1.6 million migrants crossed into the United States through the southwest border. According to unofficial reports reviewed by Breitbart Texas, just under 180,000 migrants were apprehended in August, bringing the total migrant encounters across the southwest border to more than 1.8 million.

As reported by Breitbart Texas, nearly 600,000 migrants have managed to avoid capture by the Border Patrol since October and are listed as “got-aways.”

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.