Border agents say 'coyotes' contributing to overall increase in number of migrants

Publish date: 2024-07-27

WASHINGTON (TND) — There’s been more fallout as a result of record numbers of migrants attempting to cross into the United States at the southern border.

Internal Department of Homeland Security emails obtained by the Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project revealed that border agents, many of whom have said they're both overworked and overwhelmed, have also been assaulted and threatened by migrants in some cases. It’s one part of a much larger story of a growing crisis at the border.

Rick Martinez has lived in Del Rio, Texas most of his life. A former law enforcement officer, he now owns several stores, including the Five Points Market where shoppers can buy just about anything from hot peppers to hand lotion to hats. He says the last year or so has brought noticeable changes to his community.

In 2022, the Del Rio sector had the most number of apprehensions along the border. Martinez says it's had a direct impact on him and the community.

“We just live right up the block about a mile and a half and you’ll see smugglers come straight down the road at 80, 90 miles an hour, there’s nothing you can do just get out of the way,” Martinez said.

Martinez and many in the community say they have sympathy for the migrants, many of whom are fleeing violence and corruption, but wish they would enter the country legally. Del Rio alone surpassed 480,000 border encounters in 2022. It was a major escalation from just over 259,000 in 2021.

According to the U.S. Border Patrol, the top reason for the massive increase is smugglers — often called coyotes — who Chief Jason Owens says lure desperate people from other countries to the United States, taking their money and then using the most vulnerable as a diversion, often to bring bad actors or drugs across.

“They may bring a child across the river and abandon them knowing that when we see that child, we’re going to focus our efforts on rescuing the child from those elements,” Owens said.

He says that often means a border that is far less secure.

“The migrants lose because they’re putting themselves in harm's way and a dangerous situation. The border patrol agents lose because they’re not able to focus on the job that they were hired and tasked to do. The American people lose because border security suffers,” Owens said.

For Martinez, that lack of security sometimes means days and nights filled with frustration and fear.

“The amount of unaccompanied minors is insane we were finding 4 and 5-year-olds walking down the highway by themselves in the middle of the night. It's heartbreaking because I never thought we would ever see something like this in this country,” he said.

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