() The number of migrants who entered the United States illegally is rising in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, has learned.
The U.S.-Mexico border region is currently experiencing the highest rate of illegal crossings compared to any other area in the country, based on information sourced from the Department of Homeland Security.
With just a few days left in the month, there have been over 400 more crossings compared to July, contributing to the more than 5,000 encounters recorded by federal border agents at the southern border this August alone.
This surge in migrant crossings coincides with a joint operation between federal and state law enforcement agencies that resulted in 78 arrests over the recent weekend. According to reports from the Trump administration, in the past three months, no undocumented migrants encountered at the border have been released back into the U.S.
Those who are caught at the border are processed, but instead of being released with a future court date under policies from the Biden administration, they are now being detained and prepared for deportation to their home countries.
cameras are there as border crossers captured
A particular news outlet was exclusively embedded with the elite brush team and ATV unit of the Texas Department of Public Safety on Thursday. They observed, alongside the U.S. Border Patrol, undocumented migrants attempting to enter the U.S. by scaling the border wall.
One of the individuals included a Mexican national who climbed the wall with another person suspected to be a guide for cartel smugglers. The guide returned to Mexico while the Mexican national tried to evade arrest by hiding in the brush.
He was captured along with two women, one from Colombia and another from Guatemala, who were wearing cartel bracelets. The bracelets indicate the women paid the cartel to help them enter the U.S. illegally.
They were captured along with a 20-year-old Mexican national, who was also wearing a cartel bracelet. The women told they each paid $5,000 to criminal cartels, which is about $2,000 higher than the normal going rate for Guatemalan women seeking to cross the border.
Texas continues devoting increased resources
Lt. Chris Olivarez with Texas DPS said that the agency is devoting many resources to the immigration enforcement effort to assist federal immigration enforcement agencies as part of Operation Lonestar.
He said that’s done because just one “gotaway” represents a potential national security threat to American citizens.
“We know that one gotaway could be a terrorist, a gang member,” Olivarez told . “We don’t know exactly who these people are when they cross the border. That’s why it’s so important to have all these resources dedicated (to the operation).”
