EAGLE PASS, Texas — Large groups of illegal immigrants continued to cross the Rio Grande in order to reach the United States, while some were successful, others ran into members of the Texas National Guard, who would not let them through the concertina wire.
Part of the gamble migrants take when they illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border is who they first encounter when they reach U.S. soil. They hope to turn themselves in to Border Patrol, who will take them to process their claims. But if they first meet either Texas state troopers or National Guardsmen, they likely have to return to Mexico or find a gap in the miles-long concertina wire in order to find Border Patrol agents. It becomes a never ending game of whack-a-mole.
It was a game that played out on Saturday morning as two different groups tried to illegally enter the U.S., with the first group having an easier time wading through the Rio Grande because the water level was around waist deep. The group moved slowly due to the women and children being carried. Guardsmen in boats and on the banks yelled at them to return to Mexico. One of the men yelled, "Help me please!" in English, which was met with a curt, "No!" by a soldier.
Due to the rules of engagement, which was explained to me and the law enforcement officers I was with in the boat, the Guardsmen can not put their hands on the migrants.
The crowd made it onto the bank but where they ended up was steep and there was not much room to walk to a different area. They begged to be let in but the Guardsmen continued to tell them to go back to Mexico. The illegal immigrants decided to stay in place and wait.
I asked the crowd if they had appointments through the CBP One app, which allows people to enter at a port of entry so they can make their claim for asylum. They all said no because they had been waiting for months in Mexico to get an appointment but to no avail.
A little further down the river by Eagle Pass International Bridge II, a different group had made it into the U.S. by crawling through a wider gap in the concertina wire, with the Guardsmen unable to stop them due to the aforementioned rules of engagement. Once that small group made it through, the soldiers worked quickly to fix the wiring and place more barriers in the hole to prevent another group that was watching from a small island in the middle of the Rio Grande.
After the group passed through, Guardsmen placed more C-wire in the gap illegal immigrants used to enter Eagle Pass. pic.twitter.com/bP8HDAotQl
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) September 23, 2023
Tensions are high between state law enforcement and their Border Patrol counterparts. One trooper explained after the city of Eagle Pass declared the park where illegal crossings are high "private property," which allows the troopers to arrest illegal immigrants for trespassing instead of handing them over to Border Patrol, the Border Patrol's leadership would not move their agents down river to let Texas Highway Patrol take control of the area. Since the federal government was not playing ball, the Texas Highway Patrol pulled their people out to let Border Patrol and Customs agents deal with it.
"I’ve been told that tens of thousands of migrants are still on their way from Mexico and Central America. Processing capacity is at four times its max and local resources are being depleted. This crisis is on track to be just as bad, if not worse, than what happened in Del Rio two years ago," said Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), who visited Eagle Pass and met with officials on Friday.