Following the deployment of Governor Abbott’s Texas Tactical Border Force to the Rio Grande Valley Sector, migrant apprehensions declined for the first time in more than a week. Texas military forces and DPS troopers erected razor wire along the northern bank of the Rio Grande and turned back hundreds of migrants.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended 9,788 migrants on Thursday as the CDC Title 42 program came to an end at 11 p.m. local time. This is down from the previous day’s reported apprehension of 10,605 migrants. During the three preceding days, RGV agents apprehended more than 10,000 migrants per day.
On Thursday, the Texas Tactical Border Force’s use of troops and razor wire created a barrier that forced migrants to turn back from crossing the Rio Grande near Brownsville, Breitbart Texas reported. In a video produced by Breitbart’s Cartel Chronicles Project, migrants can be seen confronting the soldiers and troopers standing behind the concertino wire barrier.
The deterrent effect forced the migrants to return to the Matamoros, Tamaulipas, side of the Rio Grande and seek a crossing point elsewhere.
The Rio Grande Valley experienced a near-daily increase in the number of migrant apprehensions each day during the past two weeks. On May 1, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz reported a three-day average apprehension rate of more than 7,400 migrants per day. By May 6, that average daily apprehension rate increased to approximately 7,850 per day, Breitbart reported. On Wednesday of this week, the number of apprehensions peaked at 10,605.
While migrant apprehensions fell in the Rio Grande Valley Sector on the eve of Title 42’s end, the number of apprehensions increased in Tucson and El Paso Sectors. Agents apprehended 1,809 migrants in the Tucson Sector and 1,788 in the El Paso Sector.
“We’re doing what no state has ever done before,” Governor Abbott tweeted. “While Biden lays out the welcome mat, Texas will do everything possible to repel illegal immigrants.”
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.