EAGLE PASS, Texas — In the Del Rio Border Patrol Sector, once one of the busiest regions for illegal border crossings in Texas, migrant apprehensions have dropped by nearly 40% in the first full week of the Trump presidency. The drop has been noted across the southwest border as enhanced immigration operations promised by the Trump campaign during the election season begin to take shape.
According to the Border Patrol, the number of suspected got-aways in the Del Rio Sector also plummeted, dropping by more than 60 percent, from 229 to 82, during the post-inauguration week. In the Texas Rio Grande Valley, daily migrant apprehensions during the weekend before the inauguration fell to just 211, compared to 1,154 over the same period one week before the inauguration. Known migrant got-aways for that border region dropped nearly 40 percent, from 75 to 46, according to the Border Patrol.
As Border Patrol agents transition from processing and releasing migrants into the United States to arresting and removing the migrants upon entry in most cases, a stark difference can be noted in other border states as well. In California, the San Diego Sector of the Border Patrol is now moving migrants laterally via military aircraft to different parts of the border for repatriation rather than allowing the widescale release of the migrants as occurred during the Biden-Harris administration.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, an unofficial report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection showed nearly 700 migrants from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) were apprehended in the San Diego region in just one week in April 2024. Most were released into the United States to pursue asylum claims. Now, according to a source within CBP, Chinese migrants are being sent back to Mexico at the time of apprehension.
In Tucson, Border Patrol agents with the Sonoran Border Unit and the Foreign Operations Branch discovered and dismantled a scout site camp used by Transnational Criminal Organizations. The bi-national operation resulted in the eradication of the site, the arrest of several cartel members, and the recovery of surveillance devices used to assist the cartel in moving narcotics and migrants across the remote border.
The reduction in border crossings in that region affords agents the opportunity to increase field patrols into remote areas that remained void of border patrol presence during the previous administration.
A likely contributor to the drop in border crossings is the imagery of mass deportation operations circulating in the media, domestically and internationally. On Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported its largest single-day migrant apprehensions under the mass deportation plan announced by incoming President Donald Trump. During the multi-state operations, nearly 1,000 migrants were apprehended.
In one immigration raid in Colorado, agents assigned to the Denver offices of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Denver Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Denver Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) approximately 50 migrants suspected of being in the country illegally were arrested in the Denver Metro area. Several migrants arrested during the raid are suspected of being associated with the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
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