EAGLE PASS, Texas — Central American migrants are trying out new flotation devices typically seen at summertime pool parties in an effort to get across the fast-flowing Rio Grande that runs between Mexico and Texas.
In a quarter-mile section of the border between Eagle Pass, Texas, and Mexico’s northern border city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, local residents have filmed many migrant families attempting to use kiddie pools and cartoon-themed floaties to get across the river instead of wading or swimming.
Migrants, including possibly smugglers aiding people in the final step of their journey, inflate the floating devices on the river banks of Mexico. Those crossing have used several types of blue rectangular pools, as well as sprinkled doughnut tubes and glitter floats that go around the waist.
Those attempting to illegally cross into the U.S. in hopes of claiming asylum then push off into the river or have others hang onto on side of the pool and paddle them across the body of water.
In some cases, migrants make it a third or half of the way across the river and then appear to stop trying and wait for a U.S. Border Patrol air boat to arrive and pull them from the water.
Children sometimes wear inflatable devices on their arms, while others use large empty bottles of soda filled with air to help them float in the water.
Others rely solely on bright-colored five-foot-long noodles and other floats to aid them in their swim.
Once across, migrants walk up the U.S. river bank and up to Border Patrol agents who have watched them from the shore. Agents will step in and perform rescues if the air boat is not in the area, and there is a danger of drowning.
Since last October, Border Patrol has seen a significant increase in the number of Central American families illegally entering the country. Agents have apprehended through May three times as many people traveling as part of a family from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
