Deteriorating Situation: Eagle Pass Migrant Crisis Intensifies

The migrant crisis in Eagle Pass, Texas, has shown no sign of improvement, with border crossings rising to around 8,000 per day, according to the Washington Office of Latin America, and fewer Border Patrol agents in the field because they are proccupied with processing arrivals.

A document shared with the Washington Examiner included directives for Border Patrol agents to focus solely on processing migrants.

“All assignments on the 481 will be limited to the above mentioned only,” it said, adding that there should be no indication of “any type of field deployment/enforcement” at the border.

The agent who shared it “is pretty p***** off about this,” Examiner journalist Anna Giaritelli wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas last week declared a state of emergency amid the migrant surge.

On Wednesday he slammed the Biden administration for not helping his city with the influx.

“I got a call from Homeland Security Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas yesterday saying that they are looking and the situation and trying to find solutions,” Salinas told a local news outlet. “How vague does that sound? The only solution to this is deportation.”

He said migrants were coming “because there is no consequence.”

“These people are being processed, they are let loose to an NGO [nongovernmental organization], and then they go about their way to San Antonio,” Salinas said. “There is no consequence; there are no deportations. So they are coming, and they are going to keep coming.”

Migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border are on pace to reach record highs in September, according to data shared by Mexico’s president.

The number of migrants caught crossing illegally or presenting themselves at legal border crossings has steadily risen after dropping in mid-May when the U.S. rolled out stricter new asylum rules.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.