Border Agents Train for Migrant Drownings in Texas Gulf as Title 42 End Approaches; Border Patrol Sees Rise in Migrants Using Waterways to Cross into South Texas

Border Agents Train for Migrant Drownings in Texas Gulf as Title 42 End Approaches:

The Border Patrol conducted a multi-agency water safety exercise along the southern edge of South Padre Island to address the dangers posed to migrants. Agents trained to rescue migrants attempting to enter the U.S. via the Texas Gulf Coast. Monday’s exercise involved CBP Air and Marine units; Rio Grande Valley Sector’s Border, Search, Trauma, and Rescue Team (BORSTAR); and the United States Coast Guard.

A post-event panel discussion conducted by the multi-agency participants highlighted the danger of drowning faced by migrants in coastal waterways. The exercise is part of the Border Patrol’s Annual Border Safety Initiative (BSI). According to CBP, the BSI is part of a bi-national strategy aimed at reducing migrant deaths and making the border region safer for agents, border residents, and communities. The initiative also aims to minimize the life-threatening injuries and deaths associated with illegal border crossings and human smuggling.

The BSI was implemented in 1998 and has been expanded to include the Missing Migrant Program which helps to identify the remains of deceased migrants. The exercise comes as the agency prepares for the end of the Title 42 COVID-19 expulsion authority and the anticipated surge in migrant crossings as a result. —>READ MORE HERE

Border Patrol sees rise in migrants using waterways to cross into South Texas:

The U.S. Border Patrol and other federal maritime agencies on Monday simulated drowning rescues and smuggling arrests in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which agents say is an increasingly popular way for migrants to try to cross into the United States.

Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez said this year’s Border Security Event simulations focused on waterways because that’s how more migrants have been trying to illegally come into South Texas from Mexico.

“We are seeing a high number of people being smuggled through the waterways,” Chavez said after a 30-minute mock exercise held on the southern tip of this resort island just miles from the Mexico border.

Chavez says the sector is now averaging 1,000 apprehensions per day.

This is occurring just weeks before Title 42 is scheduled to lift on May 11. That’s the public health order that has been in place since March 2020 and allowed federal officials to immediately expel migrants to Mexico. Now, Title 8 is expected to be used more to deter migrant crossings.

But it appears migrants are massing south of the South Texas border and have begun trying to cross in large groups.

On Sunday, Chavez tweeted that over 1,600 migrants were apprehended in a 24-hour period in the Brownsville area. —>READ MORE HERE

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