Border Patrol agents in the five Texas-based sectors apprehended nearly 50,000 migrants during the first 15 days of August. This is despite the blistering temperatures endangering the lives of migrants attempting to enter the United States between ports of entry illegally.
Texas Game Wardens and Department of Public Safety troopers arrested two suspected members of the Cartel Del Noreste and seized rifles and ammunition near Fronton. The ammunition included armor-piercing rifle rounds.
Border Patrol agents responded to a 911 call from a migrant on a ranch suffering from heat exhaustion only to find the migrant had succumbed to the exposure to the elements. According to a source within Customs and Border Protection, the incident tells the tale of migrants who seek to avoid apprehension at all costs and wait too long to call for emergency assistance when they become too ill to continue their trek.
Border Patrol officials report that a group of seven spider monkeys will be returned to Mexico after they were rescued from smugglers in South Texas. The monkeys were found in a backpack being smuggled near Brownsville, Texas.
Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 40,000 migrants along the southwest border during the first ten days of August. The Tucson and Rio Grande Valley Sectors reported more than 10,000 each.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents found a small cache of Mexican cartel weapons on the Texas bank of the Rio Grande. This is the second suspected armed cartel incursion incident in the South Texas border town during the month of August.
A three-year-old migrant child died while being transported to Chicago, Illinois, aboard a bus sponsored by the State of Texas. The child died as the bus neared Salem, Illinois, late Thursday.
A Honduran migrant will spend six and a half years in prison for his third conviction on human smuggling charges. The Honduran man had been smuggling migrants for more than nine years — some of that time while he was under asylum protection.
Francisco Torres Oropeza pleaded not guilty in an East Texas court on Capital Murder charges related to the alleged murder of five Honduran migrants. The Hondurans, including a young child, lived next door to Oropeza at the time of the reported shooting deaths.
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers found a group of ten migrant children abandoned by human smugglers near the border with Mexico. The children ranged in age from ten to 16 years.
U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro (D-TX) told CNN Newsroom’s Jim Acosta he believes Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s use of razor wire and a floating border buoy system is “barbaric and inhumane.” Castro did not comment on the Biden administration’s use of the same wire to repel asylum seekers at ports of entry along the southwest border. At the ports, the wire is deployed atop gates and along temporary barriers used to close the ports when migrants rush the port without an appointment.
Border Patrol agents report increasing rescues as the number of migrants crossing the U.S. border with Mexico increases. Officials cite soaring temperatures as a reason for the spike in rescues. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens tweeted photos from a
Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador lashed out once more against Texas Governor Greg Abbott, calling him inhumane and immoral for placing buoys and fencing on his state’s border. The Mexican politician blamed the buoys for the death of two migrants whose bodies were found by the barriers.
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers interdicted a human smuggling attempt near Bracketville and found a migrant with child pornography on his cell phone. This is the second bust in as many days of migrants illegally in the United States being busted by Texas troopers with child porn on their cell phones.
The Border Patrol is again facing overcrowding issues in several migrant detention facilities along the southwest border, according to a source within Customs and Border Protection. The source says the return of increasing numbers of large migrant group crossings is
A U.S. citizen used a fake Mexican ID to get deported by federal authorities to avoid prosecution following a human smuggling incident in December 2021. The now-convicted Texas-based smuggler is believed to have moved hundreds of migrants illegally into the country and funneled large amounts of money to cartel associates in Mexico during a two-year period, prosecutors stated.
A Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) drone operator spotted what appears to be an armed migrant smuggler guiding a group of migrants into the United States. The incident occurred in downtown Eagle Pass upstream of a floating buoy barrier that was put in place to prevent or divert migrant crossings. The footage captured by the drone operator shows the migrant smuggler carrying what the agency describes as a long gun as he guides a group of eleven migrants across the Rio Grande on Thursday.
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers arrested a Mexican national for allegedly smuggling a group of migrants across the border in the Rio Grande Valley Sector. The agents later reported finding child pornography in his cell phone. He now faces multiple criminal charges in a Texas court.
An ongoing heatwave impacting much of the nation and the swift-moving currents of the Rio Grande proved deadly for migrants attempting to enter the United States during the month of July. According to a source within Customs and Border Protection, 125 migrants perished attempting to cross the U.S. southwest border in July.
Authorities in Mexico are working to identify the bodies of two migrants reportedly found caught on a series of buoys set in parts of the Texas border. The State of Texas deployed the buoys to slow down illegal border crossings.
The Eagle Pass City Council voted unanimously to rescind an agreement with the State of Texas designating a public park as private property under the control of the Department of Public Safety. The designation allowed Texas law enforcement authorities to post “Private Property” signs within the park and facilitated the prosecution of migrants for criminal trespass.
Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador mocked Texas Governor Greg Abbott this week over the recent lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against the state seeking the removal of various border barriers including buoys and fencing.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt ordered 50 members of his state’s National Guard to the Texas border to support Operation Lone Star. The Guardsmen will join soldiers and airmen from 12 other states deployed to the Texas border with Mexico.
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers found a five-year-old migrant girl near the border in Eagle Pass. The Honduran child crossed the border into Texas with three adult women who “found her” alone in Mexico.
Department of Public Safety troopers arrested a young teenage driver following a high-speed pursuit in a Texas border county. The driver now faces charges of human smuggling and evading.
International ports of entry in Eagle Pass, Texas, were closed for nearly one hour after a group of nearly 50, mostly Venezuelan migrants, attempted to force their way through one of the ports to claim asylum. According to a source within CBP, the group of migrants forced their way onto Bridge One but were repelled by CBP Office of Field Operations personnel who closed the gates and shut down all traffic on Tuesday evening.
Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents encountered more than 4,800 migrants during a recent five-day period. The migrant apprehensions mark a sharp increase in the sector from last month’s drop.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott responded the Department of Justice’s threat to sue the state over the recent deployment of a floating border barrier, saying, “Texas will see you in court, Mr. President.” The response came in a letter to President Joe Biden asking that he join with Texas to stop migrants from “wagering their lives in the waters of the Rio Grande.”
The sanctuary city of Los Angeles received its fifth busload of migrants sent by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The bus carried 44 migrants from the Texas border region to the City of Angels.
The Texas governor’s office says Operation Lone Star successfully moves migrant border crossings to other states, including the northern U.S. border with Canada. A recent U.S. Customs and Border Protection report indicates a decrease in migrant apprehensions in Texas-based border sectors and a simultaneous increase in the Tucson, Miami, and Canadian border sectors.
The U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to Texas Governor Greg Abbott threatening legal action if the State does not remove the recently installed floating border barrier. Governor Abbott responded on Twitter, saying, “We will see you in court, Mr. President.”
A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper arrested a migrant near Eagle Pass for allegedly smuggling a group of migrants to Houston. The group included two children being smuggled to San Antonio.
Authorities in the Mexican border state of Coahuila reported at least 79 migrant deaths so far this year. The region continues to be a border crossing hotspot and one of the busiest human smuggling and human trafficking corridors in the nation.
Las autoridades del estado fronterizo de Coahuila han registrado al menos 79 muertes de migrantes desde principios de 2023, ya que la región sigue siendo considerada un punto crítico de inmigración y uno de los corredores de contrabando y trata de personas más activos del país.
The U.S. Department of Justice is “assessing the situation” surrounding the complaint by a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper regarding what he described as the “inhumane” treatment of migrants crossing the border from Mexico. The complaint emerged in a leaked email following the trooper’s brief deployment to the border under Operation Lone Star.
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers provided medical assistance to a pregnant Venezuelan migrant shortly after she crossed the border from Mexico into the U.S. on Thursday afternoon. The woman crossed with a small group of migrants that included family units and young children.
A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper rescued a migrant teen who injured his ankle while crossing the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass. The trooper carried the teen on his back from the river to awaiting medics.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is now detaining female migrants arrested along the border on state crimes. The new policy expands the existing policies of arresting male migrants for state crimes under Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star.
Texas Department of Public Safety Office of Inspector General investigators are looking into allegations of “inhumane” border security policies made by a DPS trooper deployed to the border region. A DPS trooper alleged he was ordered to “push people (migrants) back into the water to go to Mexico.” He also expressed concern over an order to “not give people water.”
Police in the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, observed a migrant tossing a one-year-old little girl into the Rio Grande while crossing the border from Mexico. Police say they witnessed the child going completely underwater in a life-threatening situation.
