Border Patrol agents in the two busiest sectors of the country are still drowning in large groups of migrants crossing from Mexico into southern Texas. People smugglers use the technique of moving large groups of migrants across borders to tie up the resources of border guards.
In the Rio Grande Valley strip, customers encountered three large groups during the Independence Day holiday. The groups totaled 403 migrants, including 195 family units, 52 unaccompanied minors, and 156 single adults, according to information obtained from border guard officials.
Officials identified the immigrants in these three groups as citizens of Cuba and countries from Central and South America.
In the five days leading up to the weekend, RGV agents encountered eight other large groups totaling about 1,200 immigrants. The groups crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico to the provinces of Hidalgo and Star.
The agents identified the immigrants as citizens of Cuba along with immigrants from Asia and other Central and South American countries. Officials stated that they included 638 family units, 340 unaccompanied minors, and 193 single adults.
On top of that in what is now the busiest sector in the country, Del Rio sector agents faced three more big groups during a six-hour period on June 30. All three crossings occurred in the Eagle Pass area of operations.
The groups totaled 675 immigrants, including nationals of Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Iran, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Venezuela.
“A large group is a group of 100 or more people,” Jason De Owens, president of the Del Rio Sector Patrol, said in a written statement. Currently, the Del Rio sector is responsible for more than 50 percent of large group concerns in the country. With less infrastructure and personnel than the larger sections of the Border Patrol, this puts an enormous pressure on our communities and prevents our agents from doing what they’ve signed up to do – patrolling our borders and keeping this country safe.”
