EAGLE PASS, Texas — Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass, Texas, and Texas DPS troopers apprehended more than 2,000 migrants by early afternoon on Thursday. These migrants add to the more than 20,000 migrants in U.S. Border Patrol custody along the entire border.
With more than 2,000 migrants in custody by early afternoon on Thursday, Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass expect another 1,500 to 2,000 migrants to cross the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras, according to a law enforcement source.
Border Patrol officials scrambled to find places to take the migrants for processing. The local processing center in Eagle Pass is well beyond its capacity to house apprehended migrants temporarily. The Del Rio Sector, which encompasses Eagle Pass, is currently detaining nearly 3,400 migrants. This does not include today’s apprehensions. The capacity for these centers is less than 1,900, according to Border Patrol reports reviewed by Breitbart Texas.
The Del Rio Sector exceeds migrant capacity by the largest percentage of the nine southwest border sectors. The centers are currently at nearly 185 percent of capacity.
This is followed by the Laredo Sector, which is at more than 125 percent of capacity (more than 2,700 migrnts), and the El Paso Sector, which is at more than 115 percent of capacity (more than 5,700 migrants).
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Sectors in the “yellow range,” more than 50 percent of capacity, include the Tucson Sector (74 percent), Rio Grande Valley Sector (68 percent), San Diego Sector (66 percent), Yuma Sector (62 percent) and El Centro Sector (55 percent). The only southwest border sector in the green (less than 50 percent) is the Big Bend Sector (11 percent).
With Texas’s severely overcrowded processing centers, Border Patrol officials will likely be forced to release more migrants onto the streets of Eagle Pass and other Texas border cities.
On Thursday, a new, larger non-government shelter is slated to open in Eagle Pass, accommodating more migrants released by the Border Patrol to pursue asylum claims within the United States. The new Mission Border Hope shelter, operated by the United Methodist Church, will begin receiving the migrants at their new location and coordinating travel to other parts of the country.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, the shelter recently began forcing some migrants out of the facility if they have no funds to complete travel arrangements away from the border region. Those migrants have increasingly appeared on city streets asking residents for help to leave the border city. Some have resorted to walking away from the border city to San Antonio — a journey of more than 150 miles.
The source says word of the releases into the United States is causing the increased border surges.
“This all started here when we began releasing single adults. Once word got out, it just got worse from there,” the source lamented.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.