EAGLE PASS, Texas — One Texas border town now leads the nation in migrant crossings and apprehensions. Nearly 10,000 migrants illegally crossed the border into Eagle Pass, Texas, during the past six days, according to a source operating under the umbrella of U.S Customs and Border Protection.
Once a city with fewer migrant apprehensions than most other southwest border cities, Eagle Pass is now ground zero for the Biden administration’s continuing border crisis. The source says migrant apprehensions in the city numbered nearly 10,000 over a six-day period ending on July 9 making it the leading crossing point in the nation for migrants.
By comparison, the entire Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol Sector, once the busiest region along the Texas-Mexico border saw slightly more than 7,000 migrant apprehensions in the same six-day period. That sector consists of more than 300 border miles along the Rio Grande patrolled by agents from six separate stations.
The source, not authorized to speak to the media, told Breitbart Texas that the migrant apprehension rate in and around the city of Eagle Pass alone is more than 1,500 per day. The increase in migrant traffic makes Eagle Pass the busiest area in the Border Patrol’s Del Rio Sector. Earlier in July, as reported by Breitbart Texas, 1,772 migrants were arrested in a single day after crossing the Rio Grande just north of the city.
Migrants in the group of more than 500 on that day were mostly Venezuelan single adults. More than 150 migrants came from Cuba. More than 100 members of the groups were from Colombia, Peru, Nicaragua, Iran, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Chile, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, and Mexico.
Migrant groups numbering more than 300 cross the Rio Grande daily near Eagle Pass and have become the norm according to the source. The source worries about the effects of the high summer temperatures that now exceed more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit on most days. The heat-related illnesses along with the volume of crossings is straining local Border Patrol resources according to the source.
“We have placed water reserves near the busiest crossings and do our best to keep them hydrated but it doesn’t always work,” the source told Breitbart Texas. “We have our emergency medical technicians on standby, but we routinely rely on the local fire department’s ambulances to assist in getting those who are in the worse shape to the only hospital in town.”
The volume of crossings also puts a strain on Border Patrol detention resources in the city. The source says overcrowding is the norm with more than 2,000 migrants being detained in a soft-sided processing center designed to hold only 500.
The source says less than 3,000 migrants of the nearly 10,000 migrants apprehended over the six-day period were immediately returned to Mexico under the CDC’s Title 42 emergency authority. Most of the remaining 7,000 were released to a local non-government shelter in the city where the migrants will be afforded transportation further into the United States.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.