119 Migrants Pushed Across Rio Grande During Dangerous Storms

Human smugglers moved a large group of migrants across the Rio Grande during dangerous storms on Wednesday morning, Border Patrol officials stated. The 119 migrants from six countries consisted of family units and unaccompanied alien children.

Weslaco Station Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector patrolling the border river came in contact with a group of 119 migrants. Human smugglers pushed the migrants across the river during dangerous storms, according to information provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials.

The agents classified the migrants as 93 family units and 26 “noncitizen unaccompanied children,” officials stated. The foreign nationals came to the U.S. from Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

“Due to the heavy rain and thunderstorms passing through the Rio Grande Valley, agents and contractors immediately transported the migrants to shelter at the Port of Entry (POE) in Hidalgo, Texas,” Rio Grande Valles Sector officials said in the written statement. “The intake procedures usually conducted at the place of encounter, were done at the POE in order to keep the migrants, which included very young children, out of the severe weather.”

The Rio Grande Valley Sector continues to lead the nine southwest border sectors in the apprehension of migrants, particularly families and unaccompanied minors.

In April, RGV agents apprehended 60,839 migrants of the total 173,460 southwest border total. Of those, officials classified more than 30,000 as family units and nearly 10,000 as unaccompanied minors.  These apprehensions are up by more than 18,000 and 4,200 percent respectively, according to the Southwest Land Border Encounters Report released by CBP officials earlier this week