Caught on camera: Migrants cutting down fences caught by federal government

Sunland Park, New Mexico Border Patrol agents intercepted multiple groups of illegal immigrants last week, including a group that breached open border fences and entered deeper into the United States, and officials are using more resources and tools to stop them from escaping into the United States.

FOX News Digital In the El Paso area, Border Patrol agents spotted multiple groups of illegal immigrants entering the United States during an early morning patrol.

One group, mostly made up of Ecuadorians, got stuck on a main road along the border wall that separates the United States and Mexico. The group was inspected, given water, asked to remove their shoelaces and hand over their belongings before being put on a transport truck to a local Border Patrol station.

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There, they will undergo Section 8 deportation proceedings, which may include expedited return to their country of origin through expedited removal, or may mean entering the United States while they await immigration deportation proceedings and a court hearing.

In another area near the port of entry, agents arrested a group of migrants from Ecuador, Bolivia and Guatemala who dug a hole in the border fence but were stopped by agents just feet away from the hole. In some areas, fences are reinforced with bollards, which are sometimes filled with concrete to make cutting more difficult. The group included two small children.

Agents also found makeshift ladders and ropes discarded near impenetrable walls.

Surge in illegal immigration from U.S. rivals breaks last year’s record

This is an area where smugglers have operated for many years and are notoriously vicious. They leave migrants behind if they are injured or send them over knowing they face natural dangers. It was here in 2021 that smugglers callously abandoned a 5-year-old and 3-year-old girl, throwing them over a fence before being rescued by agents.

Border Patrol Agent Claudio Herrera told Fox News Digital that there were nearly 600 rescues of stranded migrants in FY23 and more than 320 rescues so far in FY24.

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen in the past how these transnational criminal organizations hide these migrants south of the border. They don’t give them food or enough water. By the time they get to our border, they’re already dehydrated.,” He said.

During some immigration surges, most illegal immigrants have surrendered in hopes of being released. Here, that’s not the case. An agent told Fox News that the vast majority of encounters — as much as 95 percent — involve immigrants trying to evade Border Patrol rather than turn themselves in, suggesting that smugglers have informed them that their chances of being deported are high.

Concerns in the industry have dropped significantly from last year. In FY23, Border Patrol strength was 427,471. So far in FY24, which started in October, the number is just over 150,000. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said the decline is due in part to a multi-layered enforcement strategy that combines existing barriers, technology including autonomous surveillance towers, K-9 units and, most recently, partnerships with state police Stop illegal immigrants.

Caught on camera: Groups of illegal immigrants cut through razor wire and rush across border into Texas

“We do a great job of interdicting people in these smuggling schemes, whether it’s in vehicles or in hideouts. We have checkpoints. We have dogs. We have mounted patrols, ATVs, you name it. of.

Elsewhere in the industry, Texas also reinforced existing barriers with additional razor wire, a move that sparked a legal battle with the federal government.

But looming over the Sunland Park area is Cristo Rey Mountain, where a border barrier is impossible because of the jagged terrain, a small white obelisk marking where the United States ends and Mexico begins. This is a dangerous area for both immigrants and agents.

Agents embedded with Fox spotted a helicopter from Customs and Border Protection’s Aviation and Naval Operations (AMO) flying low over the mountain’s border with Mexico and tracked the ominous mountain, where cartel scouts are stationed On the Mexican side. A group of adult male immigrants they were overseeing who had not yet arrived in the United States quickly returned after seeing the agents.

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But the scouts remained just feet from the border, making vulgar gestures at the agents and filming them and Fox reporters. As the Border Patrol vehicle drove up the hill and then back, the scouts had edged into the U.S. side, but fled back to the Mexican side when they saw the vehicle.

But for agents, they don’t need to spend much time on the mountain. With an extra level of surveillance, including autonomous surveillance towers that use artificial intelligence to track and identify migrants, agents can track any migrants climbing the mountain and wait for them at the bottom when they come down and tire.

Get the latest on the ongoing border crisis from the Fox News Digital Immigration Hub.