Del Rio is New Center of Border Crisis With 31,000 Migrants Stopped in January; 75% Increase In Unaccompanied Minors Breaching U.S. Border Under Biden

Del Rio is new center of border crisis with 31,000 migrants stopped in January:

The remote border town that made headlines last September as tens of thousands of Haitians crossed into it from Mexico has become the top destination for migrants and the epicenter of the border crisis.

Last month, 30,773 people were encountered illegally crossing the border in Border Patrol’s Del Rio sector, which spans 240 miles of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico boundary. For each of the town of Del Rio’s 34,673 residents, one noncitizen was taken into custody.

“For us to be surpassing or being even remotely close to the numbers [the Rio Grande Valley is] getting, it’s just — it’s just crazy,” Jon Anfinsen, a Border Patrol agent who is union president of the National Border Patrol Council’s Del Rio chapter, said in an interview on the border Tuesday. “At the moment, though, our sector is busier or at least as busy as the Rio Grande Valley, which has never happened before.”

For years, the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas has been the busiest place for illegal immigration, in part because it’s the shortest distance from Central America.

But now, authorities are encountering more migrants in the Del Rio sector, one of seven monitored by the Border Patrol on the southern border, than any other — 10 times as many in the past three months than in the same period before the coronavirus pandemic.

The rising numbers in Del Rio signal that smugglers are shifting migrants, each of whom pays or are indebted $5,000 to $20,000 to get into the U.S., to cross through regions of the border where there is no wall or fence. For example, shortly after more than 100 miles of wall was installed around Yuma, Arizona, Border Patrol agents saw smugglers shift to new areas because they could not get large groups over the 30-foot-tall barrier.

“For the most part, if you’re from Haiti, from West Africa, if you are from Cuba or Venezuela, they basically decided you’re going to cross through Del Rio. That’s it. And they’ve set up the infrastructure. They have people to speak, whatever extra, whatever languages they might need to help facilitate that,” Anfinsen said. “The cartels decide where everybody goes, and we’re just left to react to it.”

Last September, tens of thousands of people, primarily Haitians who had been directed here by the cartels, came across the border and into Del Rio in an unprecedented surge, setting up a makeshift camp under an international bridge with the hope of being released into the U.S. When Border Patrol agents and Texas state troopers moved to wall off the border and some migrants tried to get past, agents on horseback were wrongly accused on social media of “whipping” people, and President Joe Biden said people were “being strapped” in an “outrageous” way and vowed that “those people will pay.” Biden and top administration officials have not apologized or clarified the record in the five months since the incident. —>READ MORE HERE

75% Increase In Unaccompanied Minors Breaching U.S. Border Under Biden

The Del Rio Sector of the Texas Border has experienced a nearly 75 percent increase in unaccompanied minors attempting to enter the U.S. illegally under the Biden White House.

The figures come from a new Customs and Border Protection (CBP) report highlighting the massive amounts of young migrants attempting to breach the U.S. border in Del Rio, which is just one of 20 sectors comprising the U.S. southern border.

“This fiscal year, between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2021, the Del Rio Sector has already encountered 2,280 unaccompanied juveniles, compared to only 1,305 during the same time last year,” explains the agency.

The numbers amount to a 74.7 percent increase in attempted border crossings.

From February fourth through the 11th, Border Patrol agents encountered more than 160 unaccompanied minors, adds the report. —>READ MORE HERE

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