Texas agents seeing surge of families crossing border after controversial zero-tolerance policy ends

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Surge of families crossing the border

Apprehension numbers are up 38 percent in August from July. Casey Stegall reports from Dallas, Texas.

DALLAS – Two women came out of the brush and looked relieved when they saw the border agents waiting for them. One woman carried a baby in her arms, as an 8-year-old boy and 3-year-old girl followed close behind.

The other woman walked up with her young son, stopped, hugged him, and broke down crying. After a two-week journey from El Salvador, they had made it, safely, across the Rio Grande to a border area near McAllen. They would be the first of three groups in rapid succession, mostly women and children, ferried over the river, in a raft led by a smuggler, who laughed and shouted at border patrol agents to give his best to his family in America.

The agents expected a busy day.

This is a day in the life of the border in the Rio Grande Valley. This one border patrol sector claims 41 percent of all the illegal immigration apprehensions made along the border.

Border agents say they are seeing an uptick in border crossers since President Trump’s controversial “zero-tolerance” family separation policy ended. The number of people illegally crossing the border has increased 50 percent over last year, border agents say.

Border agents say they are seeing an uptick in border crossers since President Trump’s controversial “zero-tolerance” family separation policy ended. The number of people illegally crossing the border has increased 50 percent over last year, border agents say.
(Maggie Kerkman)

"This is what we're facing here in South Texas," said Chief Patrol Agent Manuel Padilla Jr. "In this sector alone, we have over 158,000 apprehensions this year to date.”

Padilla said the people they apprehend split roughly into two groups: people who want to be caught, like the women and children who came across the river, and people who actively avoid capture – adults coming to work, and smugglers pushing both drugs and people. Padilla said the solutions are different for each.

When Fox News accompanied border patrol agents on a ride-along last week, agents were active even before the sun was out. A group of people had been spotted in the dark and split up to lessen the risk of getting caught. Two agents set off on foot on a path lit only by the moon and their flashlights.

When Fox News accompanied border patrol agents on a ride-along last week, agents were active even before the sun was out. A group of people had been spotted in the dark and split up to lessen the risk of getting caught. Two agents set off on foot on a path lit only by the moon and their flashlights.
(Maggie Kerkman)

In darkness they walked, searching for fresh footprints, broken branches, anything that might indicate people had just been in the area. As the sun came up, they signaled to a helicopter, which spotted people in heavy brush. The agents went in, swatting their way through overgrown trees and bushes thick with mosquitos.

They found nothing.

The agents came out to the other side of the brush onto a road and looped back around. They went into the brush again and this time, the agents spotted three men, chased them down and arrested them. One was a 19-year-old from Honduras, the other a 21-year-old from Guatemala, both looking for work. A third said he was from Mexico. Agents suspected he was their guide.

In terms of the people who don't want to be caught, Padilla said the solution is simple: more personnel, better technology and stronger infrastructure.

You put these things in place, Padilla said, and the problem is solved. He pointed to other sectors where he says this worked – San Diego, Tucson and El Paso. The reason why his sector is seeing so much traffic, Padilla explained, is that other areas are better fortified.

After watching the men who were captured be led away, the agents moved to another area that was busy. This spot was near a river-crossing popular with smugglers. As Fox News drove to the area, two Nicaraguan men, a man and his teenaged son, turned themselves into the agents.

Reversing the rising trend of families illegally crossing the border will not be simple. "This is going to require Congress to close the immigration loopholes, make immigration reform," Chief Patrol Agent Manuel Padilla Jr. told Fox News. "This population is exponentially growing and there is nothing from a border patrol standpoint that we can do down here at the field level to influence that population."
(Maggie Kerkman)

When asked why they had come to the U.S., the father answered: "Honestly? Work." The man also said the situation had gotten bad in Nicaragua and his wife had fled to the mountains while he and his son made the journey here. Agents ended up putting the man and his son into a truck. By the time Fox News got nearer to the river crossing, the two women and children from El Salvador were just coming out of the brush. The woman with the 8-year-old said he was all she had left. One daughter had been killed, and her second daughter was killed at the first daughter's funeral. That's when she decided to leave with her son.

Agents had barely gotten the women and their children into a vehicle when another group was on its way across the river. The man guiding the small raft had a T-shirt wrapped around his face so agents couldn't identify him and he was careful to pick a brushy spot that agents couldn't get to immediately.

Agents said smugglers wouldn't hesitate to dump their cargo if they felt threatened. When the second group emerged from the brush, it contained a father from Honduras with his son and niece, another woman and child, and an 11-year-old boy who was traveling by himself. Agents said this is not uncommon and that they often see younger children. The boy said he wasn't scared, he was going to meet his parents. He had been left in Honduras when they went to the U.S. and he had never met them.

Padilla said reversing this kind of traffic – these children and families – would not be simple.

"This is going to require Congress to close the immigration loopholes, make immigration reform," Padilla told Fox News. "This population is exponentially growing and there is nothing from a border patrol standpoint that we can do down here at the field level to influence that population."

Agents say the people they apprehend split roughly into two groups: people who want to be caught, like the women and children who came across the river, and people who actively avoid capture – adults coming to work, and smugglers pushing both drugs and people. Padilla said the solutions are different for each.
(Maggie Kerkman)

Back by the river, no sooner had the second group been loaded into a vehicle, a third group was on its way. This time, it was three women, each with a child. Their stories were similar to others. One women told Fox News she left because of gangs and wanted a better life for her daughter.

As we left, we drove out to the main road, where a huge bus was parked. The agents who were with us told us it would be filled soon.