Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended a single group of more than 600 migrants who crossed the border between ports of entry near Eagle Pass, Texas, early Thursday morning. Transportation of the migrants to the central processing center took more than five hours.

Eagle Pass Border Patrol agents encountered a large group of migrants crossing the border between ports of entry at about 1 a.m. Thursday morning.  By the time the entire group was rounded up for initial screening and health checks, the number rose to more than 600 migrants, according to a source operating under the umbrella of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Border Patrol agents conduct initial screening and health checks while waiting for bus transportation to take the migrants from the apprehension site to the centralized processing station. Once there, agents conduct additional screening and health checks in addition to criminal background checks.

Due to the massive number of migrants crossing daily in the Eagle Pass area of operations, migrants waited up to five hours while temperatures fell to the mid-40s. The forecast for Friday morning calls for freezing temperatures in the low-20s.

Due to a recent gag order from the Biden administration to Border Patrol, unofficial numbers for December migrant apprehensions are not available. In November, Del Rio Sector agents apprehended approximately 48,000 migrants, according to unofficial numbers obtained earlier this month by Breitbart Texas.

Migrants continue to stream from the border on the morning of December 22. (U.S. Border Patrol)

Prior to the gag order, Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Jason D. Owens tweeted weekly recaps with apprehensions totaling more than 20,000 migrant apprehensions as of the first two weekly reports of December. His reports also included more than 7,000 migrant got-aways.

Official apprehension numbers are normally released around the 15th of the month. As of press time, CBP officials have not yet released the official November Southwest Land Border Encounters. Breitbart Texas reached out to CBP officials who responded they would be released in the “next few days.”

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.

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.