Rio Grande Valley Sector

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 500 migrants in three large groups in recent days. These included nearly 150 unaccompanied children.

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents encountered multiple large migrant groups illegally crossing the border from Mexico into Texas. The groups totaled more than 500 migrants including 146 unaccompanied migrant children.

Border Patrol agents in the five Texas-based sectors apprehended nearly 138,000 migrants in May, according to a source within U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This is up by approximately 10,000 over the previous month. If the migrants apprehended in the Texas-based sectors were put into a brand new city, it would be the 25th largest city in Texas by population — greater than Waco.

Border Patrol agents along the southwest border with Mexico arrested multiple criminal aliens and gang members during the past week. Those arrested after illegally crossing the border include sex offenders, child sex offenders, an accused murderer from Mexico, and dangerous gang members.

A trucker pleaded guilty to trying to smuggle 73 migrants through a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint 80 miles north of the Texas border.

Border Patrol agents along the U.S. southwest border with Mexico apprehended more than 22,000 migrants since Friday. The migrant surge took place on the weekend leading up to the expected termination of the CDC’s Title 42 coronavirus protection protocol. A federal judge stopped the Biden Administration from ending the program on the announced May 23 date.

Border Patrol agents in the Del Rio and Rio Grande Valley Sectors apprehended more than 1,400 migrants in nine large groups after they illegally crossed from Mexico into Texas. The migrants came to the U.S. from multiple nations.

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended four large groups of migrants last week. The four groups totaled 685 migrants — mostly single adults.

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended 67 migrants in five failed human smuggling events on May 3. In one of the incidents, agents found 25 migrants packed in a tractor-trailer hauling a load of onions.

Border Patrol agents in multiple southwest border sectors apprehended previously deported child sex offenders and violent gang members.

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents found a group of 40 migrants trapped inside a metal box loaded on a conveyance trailer at an interior immigration checkpoint. The migrants were inside the sealed box with no means of escape.

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers found a group of migrants hidden in a cattle trailer. Human smugglers packed the migrants in an un-ventilated compartment under bales of hay.

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents found an unaccompanied two-year-old migrant toddler with a group of 38 migrants who illegally crossed the border near Roma, Texas. No one in the group admitted to knowing anything about the Honduran child.

Border Patrol agents and state police in Texas found a four-year-old boy and his mother as they interdicted a smuggling operation involving migrants and marijuana. The group of 15 people brought 116 pounds of marijuana into the U.S.

The mayor of one of the largest border cities in Texas sent a letter to President Joe Biden, asking him to reconsider keeping the Title 42 policies set to end on May 23. The request by the Texas politician comes as the U.S. sees a rise in the coronavirus BA.2 variant.

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 226 migrants at a single border crossing location in a 24-hour period. The apprehensions are part of a record number of migrant crossings along the southwest border with Mexico.

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers interdicted two human smuggling attempts in the Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol Sector. The troopers arrested the two human smugglers — both foreign nationals.

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents found groups of migrants being smuggled in dangerous situations. One included a migrant stuffed under the floorboard of an SUV.

A source within the Department of Homeland Security warns that nearly every federally-operated migrant detention facility faces overcrowding issues. More than 14,000 are currently detained, yet less than 5,000 are fully processed into DHS accounting systems.

A source within Customs and Border Protection says Border Patrol detention facilities within the Del Rio Sector of Texas are again dangerously overcrowded. On Friday, one facility, designed to hold 500 migrants, contains at least 2,000 mostly Cubans. The typically single adult detainees are being processed and most likely will be released into the United States, according to the source.

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended a group of 250 migrants at a single border crossing in Texas. The apprehension followed four other human smuggling interdictions where 28 people were arrested.

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents arrested a convicted sex offender traveling with a 15-year-old unaccompanied minor. Agents arrested three other criminal aliens over the weekend.

An alleged human smuggler is in a Texas jail after he crashed into a tractor-trailer while reportedly attempting to avoid arrest.

A ranch hand in Brooks County, Texas, found the body of a woman who appears to have died after exposure to the frigid weather conditions. Brooks County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a call to recover the body of the suspected migrant last week.

Border Patrol officials in multiple Texas sectors report an increase in human smuggling vehicle pursuits resulting in rollover crashes — some fatal.

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents seized two semi-automatic rifles during a raid on a human smuggling stash house near the Texas border with Mexico. The raid also led to the seizure of three vehicles used in the smuggling scheme.

Dozens of assault rifles, magazines, and matching ammunition were seized as part of a joint investigation between the Border Patrol and the Texas Department of Public Safety Highway Patrol Criminal Investigations Division on a South Texas highway Monday.

Brooks County, Texas, officials report the remains of at least eight migrants found on ranches surrounding a Border Patrol immigration checkpoint in January. This figure is up from three in January 2021.

Border Patrol agents working near Mexico apprehended five deported sex offenders who illegally re-entered the U.S. They had sex-crime convictions in states across the nation.

Border Patrol agents in the Texas Rio Grande Valley foiled five migrant smuggling attempts in less than 11 hours. The human smuggling ventures spanned from Wednesday evening through Thursday morning, with one causing significant property damage after smugglers abandoned a vehicle in tall grass. The ensuing brush fire destroyed the vehicle and burned privately owned ranch land.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced the next study phase for the construction of a border barrier project covering 86 miles in the Rio Grande Valley. Last week, the agency opened the door for public comments as part of an environmental assessment. Despite the appearance of progress, CBP is already disclosing that it will not proceed with construction or new permanent land acquisitions at the conclusion of the study. The bureaucratic maneuver helps shield the agency from violating legal responsibilities to dispense with funds as Congress ordered.

Fox News witnessed the release of “a large number of single adult illegal immigrants” into Brownsville, Texas, Sunday morning. This classification of migrants is routinely removed to Mexico under the Title 42 Coronavirus protection protocols put in place by the CDC instituted in during the Trump administration.

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents arrested three human smugglers and apprehended two groups of migrants locked inside commercial trailers. The arrests took place at the Falfurrias Border Patrol Checkpoint in Brooks County, Texas, approximately 80 miles north of the Texas-Mexico border.

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers assigned to border security duty arrested 33 migrants on state charges of criminal trespass. The troopers, assigned to Operation Lone Star, arrested the migrants on private ranches near the Texas-Mexico border.

Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley arrested five criminal migrants in a span of 30 hours Tuesday and Wednesday. Post-arrest investigations revealed two to be convicted murderers. One of the five was a sex offender and two were Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) members.

A Texas border sheriff reports human smugglers are forcing vehicle pursuits on an alarming basis. The sheriff fears innocent people and migrants could be injured due to recklessness.

The Border Patrol reported the arrest of 10 migrants previously convicted of sex offenses in the first six days of the new year. The migrants arrested with previous sex crimes, mostly related to children, occurred in seven of the nine southwest border sectors.

A Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Highway Patrol trooper thwarted an attempt by cartel smugglers to move 54 pounds of methamphetamine away from the border Tuesday. The trooper located the contraband concealed in water well pumps.

At least 129 migrants died in Brooks County, Texas, in 2021, according to information received from sheriff’s officials. The number of deaths, including 10 who died in a smuggling crash, represents an increase of nearly 280 percent over 2020.

Border Patrol agents attempting to arrest a migrant near Fronton, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley came under gunfire Saturday morning. As the agents attempted the arrest, several shots were fired at them from Mexico. The agents avoided injury during the incident that damaged their patrol vehicle.