Discovery of 54 migrants found hiding in US-Mexico river reveals new, shocking tactic smugglers are using to sneak people into US

Dozens of illegal migrants were discovered hiding in the Rio Grande River, part of a disturbing new scheme by human smugglers.

On Tuesday, fifty-four people were found in the waters between Mexico and Texas, where traffickers had told them to hide to avoid being intercepted by Border Patrol.

Illegal immigrants have long crossed the river to enter the U.S., but people generally try to spend as little time in it as possible. The fast-moving currents have been known to cause drowning.

This is the first time officials in the El Paso, Texas, area have seen migrants actually being ordered to stay in the water and use it as cover until the coast is clear and the migrants can be picked up by a car and taken further into the U.S.

“This is the largest group we’ve ever rescued from the river,” said Daniel Medrano of the Sunland Park Fire Department, one of several law enforcement agencies that responded to the scene. KTSM.

Some migrants had been wading through the water for three hours.

“Some of them were hiding in the bushes and some people were in the water,” said Enrique Duenas, spokesman for the El Paso Fire Department. told KFOX.

The Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector, which includes El Paso and all of southern New Mexico, is currently the third-busiest sector in the country, with only Tucson and San Diego seeing more incidents.

This part of the border is becoming increasingly dangerous for migrants, with many dying from the extreme heat.

In May alone, 23,478 migrants were encountered by U.S. officials in El Paso.

Nationwide, 241,022 migrants were apprehended trying to enter the US illegally.

According to the U.S. State Department, at least 2.2 million migrants crossed U.S. borders in fiscal year 2024. federal statistics.

Shirtless migrants, who had been wading through the waters of the Rio Grande for more than 3 hours, were rescued by dive teams and turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol

A U.S. law enforcement diver enters the Rio Grande Tuesday afternoon to rescue migrants from certain drowning in the Rio Grande

Several law enforcement agencies from El Paso, Texas and neighboring Sunland Park, New Mexico responded to this major rescue operation

Emergency services sent 30 divers from various agencies to pull the crossers from the river, as there was an immediate risk of drowning.

Some of the migrants were already showing signs of hypothermia, even in temperatures above 95 degrees in West Texas.

“There were about six (migrants) who were suffering from the cold,” Medrano explained. “They were in the water too long.”

Three migrants were hospitalized, but the rest were turned over to Border Patrol and face deportation from the U.S.

Authorities in this region continually stress that any safe passage smugglers promise migrants is a lie.

“I have a message for the migrants: crossing the border illegally is against the law and dangerous,” Medrano said.