Border Patrol agents are seeing a sudden spike in the number of immigrants attempting to enter the country illegally between Tucson, Arizona, and the Gulf Shore of Texas, even after the number of encounters reached a new all-time high in August.
The surge began in the last few weeks but ticked up suddenly over the last few days. One remote border town, Eagle Pass, Texas, reported 4,000 people crossing the Rio Grande in a day. Across the entire southern border, agents are apprehending more than 8,000 people daily of the 10,000 total encounters that include ports of entry.
TRUMP LOOKING FORWARD TO 2024 GENERAL ELECTION, PAST THE PRIMARIES AND MAYBE 2020
The illegal migration crisis has continued since 2021, but it has taken a dramatic turn for the worse in recent days as immigrants increasingly ride atop freight trains, hear from friends and family who went before them and were released into the United States, and grow frustrated with the government’s complicated system for scheduling appointments at ports of entry.
The Washington Examiner spoke with Border Patrol’s rank-and-file agents and upper management about what they have heard from immigrants as the reason they made the trek now.
“You will continue to see these large waves coming. A lot has to do with the coordination by criminal elements that organize the movements of the migrants,” said a senior Border Patrol official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
However, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson pointed to older comments from the Department of Homeland Security that stated the “increase in migration already experienced by the United States is consistent with larger global trends: economic and political instability around the world is fueling the highest levels of mass migration since World War II.”
1. Free rides north on Mexican freight trains
For years, immigrants traversing north through Mexico have hitched free rides on freight trains headed to the U.S.-Mexico border. These trains are known in Spanish as La Bestia for horrific injuries and deaths immigrants have suffered attempting to jump aboard certain railroad lines.
In recent weeks, thousands of immigrants have chosen to go about moving through Mexico by hitching a ride on the trains. The Associated Press reported a mile-long line to board one such train.
Immigrants board the trains when they stop at certain points to switch tracks. The easiest cars to climb have ladders and handholds and are flat on top to avoid falling off. But some will also climb atop tank cars that are rounded on top. A fall from either car can be deadly. Many immigrants through the years have lost limbs or died by getting run over by a wheel while attempting to board the cars while moving.
But train rides north came to a halt on Tuesday when Mexico’s largest railroad, Ferromex, said it had suspended service of 60 freight trains because of how many immigrants across the country had flocked to them as free transportation.
2. Good news from those ahead
A second senior Border Patrol official said family members who made it to the U.S. “are relaying how easy the process is if you cross illegally.”
“They have informed each other via social media and chat rooms that they are being released quicker [in some places] than other places and given a report date of three years from their release date,” said the first official. “When it’s so easy to turn yourself in and you get released in a day … who wouldn’t come?”
A third agent based in Eagle Pass said the modus operandi is for agents to intake and process immigrants who have just come across the river and are detained under a bridge.
“It’s always, ‘Let’s get as many bodies out of here as we can,'” the third agent said.
The agent’s account was backed up by other officials who said people crossing into Eagle Pass were primarily Venezuelan, but Colombians, Brazilians, Hondurans, and Salvadorans were also in the mix.
“All first-time single adults are getting notices to appear in court, including Mexican family units,” the third person said.
3. Inability to use CBP One app
One reoccurring complaint from immigrants in custody is the difficulty they have had trying to schedule appointments with U.S. customs officials at ports of entry to avoid crossing illegally.
CBP in January rolled out a new feature in its CBP One app that would allow users located in northern Mexico to request an appointment to speak with customs about their case for being admitted into the country.
But immigrants have voiced “frustration” over “how slow it is,” the second official said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Meanwhile, Mexican cartels have tried to use the app to their advantage by overpowering its location security features to help immigrants worldwide obtain appointments. It is part of the reason the app has been in such demand and appointments can be difficult to come by.
Other immigrants have complained to lawyers that appointments are booked up far in advance or the app sends them hundreds of miles to a port of entry that they cannot easily travel to. The setbacks, agents said, are not worth running up against when so many others are walking across, bypassing customs, and getting released without a problem.
