New Massive Wave of Migrants at The Texas Border: Biden Sends More Troops

The southern border of Texas (USA) maintains a state of emergency in the Eagle Pass sector due to a new massive arrival of migrants, two of whom died in their attempt to cross the Rio Grande, one of them a child of three years, according to authorities.

Hundreds of immigrants are lining up this Thursday under the bridge that connects Piedras Negras (Mexico) with Eagle Pass (Texas) waiting for Border Patrol officers to process them, according to EFE.

The arrival of migrants to this area forced the mayor of Eagle Pass, Rolando Salinas Jr, to declare last Tuesday a state of emergency to have resources to attend to the flow of migrants, which crosses the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo in Mexico), the natural border between the two countries.

The chaos forced the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) this Wednesday to temporarily suspend the processing of vehicles and train cargo at one of the entrances to the Eagle Pass international crossing to support the process of migrants detained at the border.

In a statement, CBP explained that it needed to "redirect" its personnel to help the Border Patrol address the massive influx of migrants in that sector. Nearly 3,000 migrants arrived in Eagle Pass on Wednesday, according to a source cited by CNN.

The images collected by EFE this Thursday show hundreds waiting to be processed, many of them families with children.

Read also: New immigration policies: good and bad news for migrants in the United States

Warnings from President Joe Biden's administration about the danger migrants face when crossing the river have failed to stop the crossing.

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), a 3-year-old boy died this Wednesday when his family was trying to cross the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass. Additionally, this Thursday DPS officers found the body of a man in the river. Both bodies were found north of the floating barriers with barbed wire that Texas installed in the Rio Grande River to deter the crossing of migrants, DPS spokeswoman Ericka Brown told CBS television.

The situation in El Paso

Eagle Pass is not the only sector of Texas that faces an increase in the arrival of migrants, CBP has had to reinforce with more agents in the El Paso area, where cargo vehicle inspection activities were also suspended to send agents to help with the foreigner process.

The increase has also been reported on the Arizona border.

On September 19, Border Patrol agents reported the arrival of about 300 foreign nationals just west of the Lukeville port of entry, forcing authorities to set up a makeshift tent to provide relief from the heat, medical care and water until help arrived to process them.

The Biden Administration had managed to stop the massive arrival of migrants by imposing a measure that forced asylum seekers to present their cases by obtaining an appointment on the CBP One application.

Last June the number of migrants (99,545) detained fell to the levels recorded in February 2021, when the Democrat had just arrived at the White House. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced this Wednesday that it has authorized the deployment of 800 soldiers to help CBP agents process migrants.