EAGLE PASS, Texas (Border Report) — With stricter asylum rules in place at the southern border, more migrants crossing into the border town of Eagle Pass are trying to evade and run from law enforcement, Border Report has learned.
During a ride along with deputies from the Maverick County Sheriff’s Office this week, Border Report did not see the usual asylum-seeking families or individuals turning themselves in after crossing the river, but did witness a chase, and saw debris like empty water bottles, shoes and backpacks and other evidence that people are crossing in the brush and trying not to get caught.
“At the (Border Patrol) processing center they said they’ve been slow, they’ve been really slow. So I guess they’re not apprehending as much because they’re running more rather than wanting to get processed,” Maverick County Sheriff’s Sgt. Fernando Ibarra told Border Report.
Across the Southwest border, migrant encounters are down 70% since Title 42 was lifted in May and was replaced by Title 8 rules, Department of Homeland Security officials say.
Under Title 8, asylum-seekers must apply for interviews with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials via the CBP One app. If they enter illegally in between ports of entry they’re sent back and can’t try to return for several years, according to DHS.
Just a few months ago, dozens of families could be seen at any time of the day, or night, staging on the other side of the border, in Piedras Negras, Mexico, then they would cross in rafts and flotation devices and turn themselves into National Guard troops waiting on the Texas side.
Now, National Guard troops have relocated their command center to another area; the old one is empty, and where dozens of buses were brought in to take migrants for processing is now only dusty trails with the sounds of birds flying overhead.
A few small islands located off-shore in the middle of the Rio Grande have become areas to where many swim and hide and catch their breath, Maverick County Sheriff’s Deputy Jesus Sanchez said.
“What these illegal immigrants do is they go ahead and cross the border, catch a break at the island, either to get some water or catch their breath, they step on the rocks and pretty much just cross,” Sanchez said.
He took Border Report on a five-hour ride along Monday through bumpy and sandy terrain in triple-digit heat.
While patrolling the southernmost highway alongside the border wall, his eagle eyesight spotted a man walking shirtless under the tree line on the north side of the road.
Sanchez made an abrupt U-turn and the man immediately began to run.
Sanchez drove his black pickup through groves of thick mesquite trees, nearly hitting his unit and swerving to avoid tree trunks.
“Parar! Parar! (stop, stop)” he yelled in Spanish.
And the man knelt on the ground and put his head down and hands behind his back.
The entire chase took less than a minute.
And after he was handcuffed and told to put on a shirt, he admitted that he had come through a nearby drainage tunnel that goes under the highway and opens near the river.
“It’s dangerous. You’re in the brush area by yourself,” Sanchez said still breathing hard from the chase. “A lot of these illegal immigrants that are crossing come with weapons, such as knives, some type of bats. … Sometimes they’re gang members trying to cross to the United States to relocate and expand their gang operations.”
The 18-year-old man said he was from Honduras and was coming to work. But he gave different names and had two ID’s with different names. When Sanchez asked his name, he stumbled and mixed them up.
He was wet and muddy, and after he was put in the back of the pickup, Sanchez went to the drainage tunnel to look for other migrants.
Spiderwebs covered the entrance to the concrete tunnel and water bottles with Mexican labels lay littered on the ground.
“It connects under the highway and leads to the other side of the brush area, and maybe 100 or 200 yards, that’s where the river is. So they make it all the way over here,” Sanchez said.
Walking back to the truck, he searched the ground for footprints, and he listened to crackling branches, which he says are telltale signs of others near.
He believed they weren’t alone but didn’t find anyone else.
Eventually, he drove the man to the Border Patrol station where agents would process and further investigate him.
“He said it’s his first time,” Sanchez said. “But they’ll go ahead and implement him into the system. If it is his first time, they’ll talk to him and tell him what’s going to happen and if he gets caught again or it’s his second or third time he’ll get consequences.”
If he is sent back to Mexico, he has to wait five years to try to re-enter. If he has tried to cross illegally before then he could be barred for 20 years.