Texas law enforcement officers and the National Guard stationed themselves overnight along a section of the southern border in El Paso to prevent a line of Venezuelan migrants from storming the barriers.
Shocking images and drone footage emerged showing a trench of migrants camped on the Juarez-Mexico side of the southern border on Sunday evening, huddled around fires and bundled in blankets.
Republicans and border hawks are increasingly irritated by the lack of action to address the border migration crisis as the number of illegal crossings continues to rise.
Military Humvees were stationed every few feet along the Texas side of the border to hold the line as migrants attempted to cross barbed wire and illegally enter the US
Todd Benson of the Center for Immigration Studies posted video of the scene to X, noting that Texas troops began firing pepper balls to disperse groups of immigrants attempting to attack the border wall.
Migrants gather at the barbed wire fence between Mexico and a border crossing near El Paso, Texas, as Texas police and National Guard stand guard on the other side
On Monday morning, the mostly Venezuelan migrants lined up at the border wall to turn themselves into border agents after passing through barbed wire fences.
A Mexican immigration official explained to Benson that migrants were “trying to break through the barbed wire and cut the fence” to gain access to the U.S. side of the border.
“They make a hole and go through,” he said in a video showing migrants crawling through barbed wire, some losing their clothing due to the dangerous fencing.
The latest incident comes after hundreds of migrants broke through razor wire near El Paso last month and stormed the border in a dramatic confrontation with members of the Texas National Guard.
The Texas Department of Public Safety has arrested and charged 221 migrants with rioting and criminal mischief, Benson noted in a threat on X, formerly Twitter.
He also said that after a tense night, it appears Monday morning that enforcement has allowed the mostly Venezuelan migrants back across the border.
“Last night the Texas line at Juarez-El Paso stopped Venezuelans camping behind the concertina wire,” Benson wrote, along with drone footage of a section of the border in El Paso.
“They are not giving up here in Juarez, even as Texas forces are now shooting pepper balls to break up the immigrant banzai attacks through the Texas fortifications at Gate 36,” he added, along with a video of bundled migrants arriving at the razor stand. wire fencing.
Clothing and other items of clothing are trapped in dangerous barbed wire that migrants walk through to reach the border wall and illegally enter the US
Texas State Troopers walk to a fence after hundreds of migrants broke through razor wire to illegally enter the US last month
A few hours later, Benson released another video showing a line of migrants along the border wall appearing to prepare to turn themselves over to immigration authorities.
“Unclear what happened, but someone is letting them back in,” he wrote, “right through or around the Texas fortifications here in Juarez, and so OF COURSE they keep coming, despite whatever Texas does.”
Many asylum seekers in this area chose not to surrender themselves immediately after crossing the US-Mexico barrier because they were in limbo due to a Texas law SB4.
The controversial law in the Lone Star State authorizes state and local police to arrest, detain and remove illegal immigrants, a right reserved only for federal officials like Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The law, which has been banned several times in recent days by federal courts, was then allowed to take effect for a few hours on Tuesday before being blocked again on Tuesday evening.