Small Texas Town Readies for Migrant Caravan Amassed Across River
Hundreds of extra law enforcement and military personnel are shoring up Border Patrol efforts in case of a mass incursion
EAGLE PASS, Texas—The little border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, is the latest to be faced with the migrant caravan phenomenon. Its neighbors to the east, in the state’s Rio Grande Valley, have become well-versed in so-called caravans—they get a caravan’s worth of asylum-seekers crossing illegally every day. But Eagle Pass, with a population of around 30,000, has a smaller port of entry, with two international bridges and the capacity to handle only 16 to 20 asylum claims per day. So the news of 1,800 migrants, mostly from Honduras, arriving across the river in Piedras Negras, Mexico, on Feb. 4 has resulted in an unprecedented show of force along the U.S. side of the Rio Grande. Local Border Patrol agents have been augmented with additional agents from nearby stations; the Texas Department of Public Safety has sent troops; the Texas National Guard has entered the fray; and the local police and sheriff’s departments are involved. Now it’s a waiting game, somewhat of a Mexican standoff.
The old factory where the migrants are staying is more than three miles from the Eagle Pass port of entry and two miles from the closest part of the Rio Grande, making it seem unlikely that the group will be able to rush the border en masse, at least without transport assistance. The camp is surrounded by Mexican military and federal police, so anywhere the migrants go would have to be condoned by Mexican authorities. However, time will eventually run out. Mexico gave the migrants 30 days to transit through the country or apply for asylum in Mexico. With the Eagle Pass processing capability, it would take at least three months to clear all 1,800 migrants.
On top of that, the caravan migrants are not the only ones crossing into Eagle Pass to seek asylum. The typical number of illegal alien crossings in the area doubled in the last two weeks of January, said Louie Wayne Collins, division chief of operations for the Del Rio Border Patrol Sector, which encompasses the Eagle Pass area. “And from that point, at the beginning of this migrant crisis earlier in the week, that doubled again,” he said. “[However], it has dropped off significantly since we have put our forces out here.” In the Del Rio sector, the number of family units and unaccompanied minors who were apprehended by Border Patrol after crossing the border illegally has increased by 364 percent and 66 percent, respectively, when comparing the first four months of the fiscal year, year-over-year. As of Feb. 8, four days since the caravan arrived in Piedras Negras, no one who has crossed illegally or presented at the port of entry to claim asylum has reported that they are part of the migrant caravan, according to Paul Del Rincon, port director for Eagle Pass Customs and Border Protection.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/small-texas-town-readies-for-migrant-caravan-amassed-across-river_2799680.html