CBS News reports U.S. Border Patrol officials are holding more than 13,000 unaccompanied migrant children in custody along the Rio Grande. Many are being held for at least five days — well beyond the 72-hour legal limit.
El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents rescued a migrant who was abandoned by human smugglers for eight days. The smugglers left the migrant for dead when he could not keep up with the group.
A smuggler drove his pickup truck loaded with migrants into the Rio Grande following a pursuit in South Texas. Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended five migrants as they swam to the U.S. riverbank from the sinking truck. The driver fled to Mexico.
Reports from local news outlets in Midland, Texas, reveal busloads of migrant children being moved under the cover of darkness into a local holding facility. State and local officials received little or no advance notice of the federal government’s plans to move these migrant children into their community.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that climate change has contributed to the surge of migrant children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
A U.S. Border Patrol source reports the number of migrant “got-away’s” tallied by the agency surpassed 118,000 for this fiscal year. In less than six months, the “got-away” number is nearly double that for all of Fiscal Year 2020. Last year, 69,000 illegal immigrants managed to avoid apprehension by the Border Patrol. Sources report the sharpest increase began in January as President Joe Biden took office.
Border Patrol agents assigned to the five Texas-based sectors apprehended nearly 64,000 migrants in February. This represents an increase of more than 27 percent from the previous month.
National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd called Department of Homeland Security claims of a program to vaccinate Border Patrol agents “smoke and mirror.” The issue of front-line agents came to the forefront on Tuesday when Texas Governor Greg Abbott demanded they receive COVID-19 vaccinations “this week.”
Border Patrol agents continue to expel most migrants apprehended after illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico Border between ports of entry. The agents expel the migrants to Mexico or their own country under Title 42 coronavirus protection protocols put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In February, agents expelled more than 70,000 single adult and family unit migrants under Title 42.
Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended 4,300 migrants who illegally crossed the central Texas border from Mexico in the past seven days. The arrest of these migrants includes migrants with extensive criminal histories and human smugglers.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott expressed outrage after learning the Biden Administration has not provided COVID-19 vaccinations to Border Patrol agents. Abbott called the lack of vaccinations “one of the most reprehensible things I’ve heard.”
A spokesperson with the City of Brownsville, Texas, said on Monday the number of migrants who tested positive for Coronavirus and were subsequently released from U.S. custody doubled in recent days.
The Biden Administration shattered a Trump-era record with DHS officials holding 3,200 unaccompanied alien children in custody, CNN reports. The detention of these minors shatters the 2,600 children held at the peak of the 2019 migrant surge. Many are being held beyond the 72-hour limit in facilities designed to hold large groups of adults.
Laredo Sector Horse Patrol Unit agents apprehended 125 migrants in a 12-hour period last week. The arrests come amid a growing border crisis where large numbers of migrants are crossing in hopes of being released into the U.S. interior under Biden Administration policies.
Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents found a group of 16 migrants locked inside a conex box on a rail car in South Texas. The migrants were locked with no masks, limited ventilation, and no means of escape.
A video tweeted by U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) shows a steady stream of migrants marching into the U.S. from Mexico. The senator said the migrants are responding to “Joe Biden’s open border, catch and release policy.
The Biden administration is being criticized for separating unaccompanied alien children from adult family members after being apprehended at the border. The separation occurs when children arrive at the border with a non-parental adult family member.
San Diego Sector Border Patrol agents continue to arrest previously deported sex offenders after they illegally return to the United States. During the first five months of Fiscal Year 21, the agents arrested as many sex offenders as they did during the entire previous year.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced the deployment of the state’s National Guard and State Troopers to respond to the growing border crisis.
Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 100,000 migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in February, according to information leaked to Reuters by federal officials. This represents the largest number of migrant apprehensions in February since 2006.
Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents found groups of migrants locked inside the cargo area of a U-Haul truck and two tractor-trailers. The migrants had no means of escape.
U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar (D-TX) reported the apprehension of approximately 10,000 migrants in the last seven days in the Rio Grande Valley Sector. He said agents apprehended 2,500 in the past two days alone.
The Biden Administration is turning ICE long-term detention facilities for migrant families into rapid-processing reception and release centers. The re-designated hubs will move migrant families more quickly from the border region into the U.S. interior.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection document reportedly leaked to CNN admits unaccompanied migrant children are being held in Border Patrol facilities longer than the current mandate allows. The documents also show migrants of all ages held in grossly overcrowded processing facilities.
Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents teamed up with state and local law enforcement officers to interdict a dangerous human smuggling incident. A lengthy police pursuit involving multiple agencies led to the arrest of two smugglers.
Municipal officials in Brownsville, Texas, say that six percent of migrants released into their community who are tested for COVID-19 are getting positive results. More than 100 tested positive since the releases began in late January.
Border Patrol officials say the driver in Tuesday’s crash near Holtville, California, that left 13 people dead may have entered the U.S. through a breach in an older border wall section. It appears two vehicles loaded with migrants illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico through the breach.
Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents arrested more than 1,600 migrants who illegally crossed the border from Mexico into Texas during a three-day span. During that period, the agents also arrested a previously deported rapist.
Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents and an Air and Marine Operations interdiction agent rescued a migrant father and his 2-year-old son from drowning in an Arizona border canal. A Yuma Station agent risked his life by jumping into the waters to pull the boy to safety.
The speedy re-opening of mothballed detention facilities and new construction projects along the border show the Biden administration knows exactly what is on the horizon. In a press conference on Monday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas clearly
Law enforcement sources report huge increases in the apprehension of unaccompanied children (UAC) along the Texas border with Mexico. Despite the opening of a new facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, Border Patrol facilities continue to experience overcrowding not seen since the 2019 migrant crisis.
Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents arrested nearly four dozen migrants over the weekend. The arrests came following a police pursuit and raids on two human smuggling stash houses near the Texas border with Mexico.
Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents rescued a woman who became unresponsive during near-freezing conditions along the Texas-Mexico border. The woman suffered from hypothermia after illegally crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 500 migrants in a single day. The apprehensions took place along a small section of the border with Mexico near Mission, Texas.
San Diego Sector Border Patrol agents arrested a migrant armed with a 22-caliber revolver at an interior immigration checkpoint in Southern California.
Four San Diego Sector Border Patrol agents sustained injuries during a vehicle pursuit of a human smuggling suspect. The alleged smuggler, his passenger, and one of the smuggled migrants also sustained injuries.
Border Patrol agents in South Texas increasingly utilize small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) to detect migrants crossing the border in remote areas. The sUAS pilots direct ground-based agents to the scene of the illegal border crossing and allow agents to be more efficient in covering these areas that are not secured by physical barriers.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents continue to find stash houses near the border where smugglers warehouse their human cargo. Most recently, agents in Pharr, Texas, found 71 migrants packed into a single house.
The Biden Administration faces increasing criticism for holding unaccompanied migrant children in Border Patrol custody–some longer than the legal 72-hour limit.
San Diego Sector Border Patrol agents disrupted a “brazen smuggling event” when they discovered a convoy of six human smuggling vehicles loading a large group of migrants. The smugglers loaded up the migrants after they illegally crossed the border through a compromise in a border wall section.
