More Bangladesh Nationals Arrive at Texas Border

Border Patrol agents arrested eight Bangladesh nationals in the Laredo Sector during a two-day period last week. During the month of March, Laredo Sector agents arrested at least 24 after they illegally crossed from Mexico. The Laredo Sector leads the nation in arrests of Bangladeshis who enter the U.S. illegally in South Texas.

The illegal aliens from Bangladesh crossed the border from Nuevo Laredo into south Laredo in two separate events on March 28 and 29. Agents arrested a total of eight illegal immigrants during the two-day period, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

“It goes to show that our agents are arresting people from all over the world on a daily basis. Their intentions for entering the country illegally can only be determined after they have been arrested,” Laredo Sector Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Gabriel Acosta said in a written statement.

One week earlier, agents from the sector arrested nine Bangladesh nationals after they illegally crossed the border from Nuevo Laredo, Breitbart Texas reported.

One week before that, agents in this same sector arrested seven more Bangladesh nationals who were smuggled into the U.S. from the area that surrounds Nuevo Laredo in Mexico. The Los Zetas cartel controls human smuggling in this region.

Chief Acosta said they have no idea what motives these people have for making the costly and dangerous trek from southern Asia through Mexico and into the U.S.

The BBC reported in February that Islamist extremism has been on the rise in Bangladesh.

“The arrest of these people from Bangladesh shows there is a clear pipeline from anywhere in the world to Mexico and on to the southern border of Texas,” Border Patrol Agent Hector Garza said in his capacity as president of the National Borde Patrol Council Local 2455. “We have been lucky to catch these groups but there is no telling how many other people from countries that sponsor terrorism could be utilizing that same pipeline.”

Garza explained that the young men from Bangladesh have been trained in how to manipulate the system to utilize the Department of Homeland Security’s ongoing catch and release program.

“Many of these people from Bangladesh will claim to be unaccompanied alien minors when they are captured by our agents,” Garza explained. “At that point, they are turned over to immigration officials for processing under the existing catch and release programs for minors.”

“When, during medical and dental examinations, immigration officers determine these people are actually adults, they are issued a Notice to Appear (NTA) and released,” Agent Garza explained.