The Angels.
The government is sending more agents to control the flow of immigrants to the area Rio Grande Valley, in Texas, where hundreds of families and unaccompanied children seeking to enter the United States have arrived in recent weeks, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told Efe on Tuesday.
“Due to fluctuations along the southwest border, the US Customs and Border Protection. deploy additional agents in the area of operations of the Rio Grande ValleyCBP assures in statements sent to Efe.
More cops to deter immigrants
With these actions, CBP seeks to “deter and disrupt trafficking activities by transnational criminal organizations and ensure that our staff is well equipped to enforce border control,” adds the border control agency.
In recent weeks, the Rio Grande Valley area has seen a wave of immigrants who have crossed the border without papers
Last Thursday, the discovery of more than 230 undocumented individuals, including several unaccompanied children, was reported during various CBP operations in safe houses in this sector.
The largest group, 130 immigrants, were found near the town of Mission and were mostly families and unaccompanied children from Central America, the agency said.
In another operation conducted last Tuesday, CBP agents along with the Police station de Pharr found 71 illegal immigrants in a house. In the group it was discovered that three children were traveling alone.
Other operations at the beginning of the month also report the discovery of large groups of immigrants in this area Texas
The gateway for families
The sector of Rio Grande Valley became one of the preferred steps for undocumented immigrant families trying to enter the country in 2018.
The situation forced CBP to launch campaigns aimed at rescue and raising awareness of danger, such as the “Operation Big Rig“Y”Don’t take any chances
“They are people, don’t charge!” The agency said in 2018 before the increase.
The message seems to have gained relevance in recent months. Two weeks ago, CBP agents received information that a pregnant Honduran woman was in danger somewhere near the Rio Grande.
The officers, who responded to the call for help, discovered that the woman had given birth. The temperature at the Rio Grande felt below 30 degrees Fahrenheit (-1 degrees Celsius) that night, detailed CBP.
More agents
Tom Gresback, CBP spokesperson for the Rio Grande Valley sector, told Efe that “due to the sensitivity of the information, he cannot provide further details on the total number of agents that will be deployed, location and other aspects.”
Data on immigrants detained for the month of February are not yet available. However, January 2021 has already set records by detaining nearly 78,000 immigrants along the border with Mexico in January, the highest number for that month in at least a decade and more than double the previous year.
Challenge to Biden’s administration
Confirming that more agents have been sent to the border, and what could be a new wave of immigrants, poses a challenge to the president’s government Joe Biden
The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, in a press conference this Monday, rejected the allegation that the situation at the border had turned into a crisis.
“There is a challenge at the border that we are dealing with,” said Mayorkas, who asked those planning to travel to the US to apply for asylum at the border in order not to do this “now” but to to wait for the government to recover. the immigration system dismantled by the previous government.