Bus station employees are reporting that illegal immigrants continue pour into the Texas border town of Laredo. They have seen a holding center for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carrying between 20 and 40 undocumented women during at least five bus trips.
The local NBC affiliate, 8KGNS-TV first heard that 400 migrants were headed to the border city but it has been difficult to get a concrete number of released individuals from the agency. Officials report that these women meet certain release eligibility requirements set by the federal government.
Local officials say that federal representatives did not notify anyone in the City of Laredo, and that a similar problem was created in 2014 when there was a surge of Central Americans in the Texas border town.
What is adding to the flood of migrants crossing the border from Central America is the fact that some countries are refusing to repatriate their own.
Breitbart Texas reported in late October that illegal immigrants, mostly from Central America, were flooding across the southern border in advance of the 2016 presidential election. The numbers reported by patrol agents were at, or above, historic 2014 levels. On October 18, Breitbart Texas reported that a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report showed that the number of illegal border crossing apprehensions of Family Unit Aliens (FMUA) from Central America and Mexico hit the highest level on record–an all-time high with 77,674 crossings in FY 2016. Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) apprehensions were at 59,692, second to the 2014 historic mark of 69,970.
“Cartel connected human smugglers are telling people they need to get across the border now,” U.S. Border Patrol Agent Chris Cabrera told Breitbart Texas in his capacity as president of National Border Patrol Council Local 3307 in October. “When our agents ask the illegal immigrants who have surrendered at the border, they tell us they have been told they have to be here by a certain deadline to qualify for amnesty from Hillary Clinton, or they must come now because Donald Trump will build a wall and they won’t be able to cross.”
In late November, Border Patrol agents in the remote Texas Big Bend Sector talked to Breitbart Texas exclusively and said Mexican cartels were overwhelming agents with illegal immigrants trying to rush in before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. As reported, the sector has very few agents that work in the area and the sector continues to be one of the most open and unsecured regions along the U.S.-Mexico border. In December, Breitbart Texas published photographs obtained from concerned citizens that revealed illegal aliens walking up dirt roads right after crossing the Rio Grande River. In minutes, these citizens witnessed 21 migrants.
The women who are part of the surge in the Laredo Sector have been ordered to appear in court but are not in ICE custody.
Congressman Henry Roberto Cuellar (D-Laredo) was reported by 8KGNS-TV to say that communication with local communities must be addressed through legislation. He also said that Mexico should do more to help stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S and suggested that Mexican officials add patrol officials at the northern and southern borders.
Lana Shadwick is a writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and associate judge in Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2.