AUSTIN, Texas — At least 12,000 migrants are camped out under the U.S. side of an international bridge that connects Mexico to Del Rio, Texas, as of Friday morning, as more noncitizens streamed across the border river overnight, according to a federal law enforcement official on site.
“First thing this morning, it was over 11. And now we’re nearing — it’s over 12,” said Jon Anfinsen, a Border Patrol agent who is president of the National Border Patrol Council’s Del Rio chapter, referring to people in the thousands. “It’s now essentially a small city.”
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“Although I don’t have an official breakdown, the overwhelming majority are from Haiti,” said Anfinsen. “There is the occasional group from Venezuela and some other countries, but the group is almost entirely Haitian.”
In early August, Border Patrol agents stationed in this remote part of south-central Texas were encountering 1,000 migrants who illegally crossed the Rio Grande River into the United States in this region daily.
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Migrants who made it across in this specific area would walk a short distance to pass underneath the Acuña – Del Rio International Bridge, where overhead vehicles and pedestrians must pass through Customs and Border Protection inspection before being admitted into the country.
Being briefed by @CBP on the escalating #BidenBorderCrisis while yards away from over 10,000 illegal aliens.
This is a manmade disaster. And it is a direct result of Joe Biden’s political decisions. pic.twitter.com/gLUFq4LTjw
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) September 17, 2021
At the start of this week, a couple of thousand migrants began crossing and accumulating each day underneath the bridge, where they would wait to surrender to Border Patrol and be taken to a federal holding station for processing and likely released into the U.S.
However, because the Border Patrol was so short-staffed prior to this week, Anfinsen said, “there are some days where some stations have zero agents in the field except for transport” vehicles that take migrants to holding stations, limiting the ability to move and process as many people are arriving.
Now, the number of people crossing and making it to the bridge, which is on city land, is out of control.
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“You go down there, and it kind of takes your breath away just when you — when you see it,” Anfinsen said.
NEW: Source on the ground at the international bridge in Del Rio just sent me this video showing the deteriorating situation. Federal source says the number has now increased to 9,300.
It was 8,200 this morning, and about 4,000 yesterday AM.
Mostly Haitians, I’m told. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/e8ftMp4YoQ— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) September 16, 2021
Federal and state law enforcement are growing more concerned about the safety of their personnel and the thousands outside. Sheriff’s deputies were called to the bridge Thursday to investigate a report of a man hitting a woman who was traveling with him.
“It’s just sort of controlled chaos at this point, you know, they’re not in our custody, and we’re just sort of trying to keep things as safe as possible, all things considered, but that’s almost impossible to do with a group of this size,” Anfinsen said. “We’re distributing water. There’s food getting distributed. We have plenty of agents and National Guard and troopers and all that sort of just kind of securing the scene.”
Anfinsen credited Gov. Greg Abbott’s sending in Department of Public Safety officers and the National Guard. Troopers are the only law enforcement taking people into custody though they must wait for Border Patrol to arrive because only federal agents can make immigration arrests.
“They’re pulling over smuggling loads on the highways, but, you know, that was only ever just a piece of what we would deal with,” said Anfinsen. “I don’t know how long they plan on having them here. I’m hoping it’s the foreseeable future, but that’s all we’ve got.“
Border Patrol has mandated agents here work overtime going forward, the equivalent to six-day weeks.
CBP, which oversees the ports of entry and the Border Patrol, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
