Texas Border Migrant Processing Centers Hitting Full Capacity Again, Say Agents

Border Patrol agents in the Texas Rio Grande Valley are saying that processing centers for illegal immigrants are frequently hitting full capacity. The reports from Border Patrol agents coincide with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reports about largely increasing numbers of apprehensions illegal immigrants in South Texas.

Border Patrol Agent Chris Cabrera, in his capacity as president of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) Local 3307, told KRGV reporters, “I get texts probably three or four times a week saying that the processing center down in McAllen is at capacity. It’s at a 1,000, 1200, 1300 and they’re having to shut it down where no more people can come in. So, we’re now having to send it back to the station.”

In the last report available from CBP (August), apprehensions of illegal immigrants along the southwestern border were up for the fourth straight month, Breitbart Texas reported. The Rio Grande Valley Sector in South Texas continues to lead the nine sectors that make up the southwest U.S./Mexico border. Agents arrested a total of 8,650 illegal immigrants in this single sector, up from 7,107 in July (a 21.7 percent increase). UAC arrests totaled 1,296 in August (up from 1,194 in July). FMUA arrests increased from 2,098 in July to 2,815 in August (an increase of 34.18 percent increase).

CBP officials did not offer any explanation for the dramatic increases in apprehensions in a month where a decline in apprehensions is the norm.

Breitbart Texas has reached out to CBP RGV Sector and national officials about the increased apprehensions and to see if temporary shelters that were closed earlier this year will be re-opened. So far, no response has been received and the year-end apprehension reports for Fiscal Year 2017, which ended on September 30, are not yet available.

CBP did respond to an inquiry from KRGV and said they “do not concur” with Cabrerra’s reports.

Cabrera told KRGV they no longer have help from other Border Patrol sectors that they had earlier in the year. He said his agents are concerned.

“When you have the processing center at capacity, that means they’ll pull people from the line to work the processing center to speed up the processing,” Cabrerra said. “But, that leaves the line depleted and you’re having more people come over undetected and it presents an officer safety issue for our agents.”

In mid-November, Breitbart Texas reported NBPC officials were concerned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials do not have the capacity for detention of the increasing numbers of illegal immigrants. Border Patrol Agent Brandon Judd, in his capacity as NBPC president, told the Washington Times, “We’re going to have to release them out our front door, Even if we try to turn them over to them, they’re just not going to take them.”

He said the San Antonio ICE office is refusing to take any Family Unit Aliens

“The moment we start releasing them out our front door, you’re going to see a huge increase take place in the numbers coming across,” Judd warned.

Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) Director of Policy Studies Jessica Vaughan agreed. “It’s very concerning that we continue to experience such a sizeable influx of families and youths entering illegally,”  she told Breitbart Texas in November. “The smugglers know our immigration policies better than most Americans do, and clearly they see what is happening – that we’re still letting people walk in, be briefly detained, and released to live and work here indefinitely. It’s still perceived as a great deal and worth the smuggling fees and the risk of the journey.”

“This is especially a problem for Texas, which is bearing the brunt of this influx,” Vaughan continued. “It’s stressing the schools and health care systems, it’s costly for taxpayers, and it has created a major public safety problem because of the MS-13 and other gang members who are gaining entry as a result. There have been some horrific incidents around Houston in particular, where youths who were allowed to enter and released have committed some unspeakably brutal crimes.”