Video: Hundreds of illegal migrants wander on side of the road in Eagle Pass, Texas

Townhall Media/Julio Rosas

A Fox News reporter posted an unusual video of a large group of illegal migrants wandering along the side of a highway in Eagle Pass, Texas. There appear to be hundreds of migrants in the group. Eagle Pass is a small town just east of the Rio Grande River on the Mexican border. It is in the Del Rio Sector.

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The question is, why are they there and what is going on? The video comes from Texas DPS so law enforcement is aware of their location. You can see an SUV that looks like one for law enforcement with flashing lights and someone that looks like a uniformed law enforcement officer.

So, they aren’t running wild but they aren’t exactly secured, either. The story hasn’t been explained yet but these hundreds of migrants have arrived in Eagle Pass illegally. They are spread out down the highway. Are they waiting for buses to come pick them up? The Del Rio Sector now rivals the Rio Grande Valley Sector for the number of illegal migrants apprehended.

DHS has begun implementing a parole process that is meant to ease the overcrowding of border detention facilities. About 1,000 illegal migrants a day are sent to a nonprofit in Eagle Pass called Mission: Border Hope.

The number of paroles granted has exploded in recent months compared to last year.

More than 207,000 immigrants who crossed over from Mexico were paroled from August 2021 through May this year, court records showed.

In May alone, more than 50,000 were paroled — a 28% increase from April.

In the previous seven months before August last year, Border Patrol had only paroled 11 migrants.

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Will this large group of illegal migrants add to the number of parolees? It’s very likely that they will. The nonprofit now operates out of a warehouse because it outgrew its space at a church. For $40 they can board a commercial bus and go to the San Antonio International Airport.

The warehouse on a busy but unremarkable strip of auto repair shops and convenience stores draws little attention from passersby.

Inside, hundreds of migrants are eating, charging phones and using temporary bathrooms and showers. Within a few hours, a security guard escorts them to a gravel lot out front, where commercial buses take them from the remote Texas town of Eagle Pass to the San Antonio International Airport for $40.

The Border Patrol releases up to 1,000 migrants daily at Mission: Border Hope. The nonprofit group outgrew a church and moved to the warehouse in April amid the Biden administration’s rapidly expanding practice of releasing migrants on parole, particularly those who are not subject to a pandemic rule that prevents migrants from seeking asylum.

The migrants released at the warehouse are told to report to immigration authorities in two months at their final U.S. destination. (Wink, wink) They are issued a handheld device that tracks their movements. Migrants praise their treatment as opposed to other countries. Why wouldn’t they? They aren’t even given a slap on the wrist for illegally entering the United States. They are given a bus ticket and maybe even a plane ticket to go wherever they wish to relocate.

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“The treatment (by U.S. authorities) was good in comparison with other countries,” said Anthony Montilla, 27, of Venezuela. “They didn’t treat us like were thieves.”

He arrived with his family after a journey that included walking through Panama’s notorious Darien Gap, where bandits raped young girls in front of their parents and dead bodies lay on the jungle floor. After Border Patrol released the family on two months’ parole, they headed to a friend’s home in Washington, D.C.

Jose Castillo, 43, arrived from Nicaragua with his wife and 14-year-old son, after overcoming fears of drowning in the Rio Grande. They were headed to Miami to live with a cousin. They say opposition to Nicaragua’s government made them targets for repression.

The day Castillo spent in Border Patrol custody was “easy,” he said, but he would advise others against the trip due to dangers of going hungry or being kidnapped in Mexico.

Mission: Border Hope is backed by the United Methodist Church. Its services are modest compared to other groups in border cities. For example, they do not provide shelter or free transportation to an airport. In 2000 the nonprofit served 25 to 50 illegal migrants per week. Now, on their busiest days, volunteers can’t keep up with registering migrants, buying bus tickets and handling logistics. There are usually about 500 migrants per day but that number sometimes reaches 1,000.

The photo above is one from Yuma, Arizona. Law enforcement there is beginning to experience the problems facing Texas border officials. There has been an explosion of illegal migrants flooding into the Yuma area.

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This is Biden’s border crisis and it has turned into a humanitarian crisis. Illegal migrants are allowed to remain in our country once they cross the border and they are provided transportation to go wherever it is they want to relocate. No other country in the world allows this to happen. It is a dereliction of duty by Joe Biden and the next president will be left to clean up his mess and secure our southern border.

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Ed Morrissey 12:40 PM | November 21, 2024
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