The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) website is currently providing a troubling look at a formerly quiet sector of our southern border in Texas.
The April 27 article, by CIS staffer Todd Bensman, explains how the Big Bend Sector of West Texas, the largest of the eight southern sectors overseen by the Border Patrol and covering 571 miles of the Rio Grande border, once was little used by smugglers and migrants due to its remoteness and harsh conditions.
Not any more, agents and smugglers agree.
Bensman talked with “Jose Antonio,” a guia–guide–working for the La Linea cartel controlling the area opposite Big Bend in Mexico. Antonio leads groups of immigrants on eight- to 12-day treks through the desert to U.S. Interstate 10, where smugglers on the American side pick them up and drive them further north. He told Bensman that business had never been better, since la invitación–the invitation–was issued by presidential candidate Joe Biden. Once Biden took office, the smuggling racket took off like never before–¡Como nunca!–he says.
Unlike the sectors in South Texas, which are easier to access from the south and are attracting mostly family units and unaccompanied minors, the Big Bend sector of West Texas is primarily being used by single adults, mostly young men. Unlike the families and minors, these illegals do not want to be caught. Most of those who are are soon sent back to Mexico in accordance with the Covid-related “Title 42” policy, a Trump-era policy still being followed. Even so, during the first three months of this year, 14,091 were apprehended, a 365 percent increase over the same period last year. However, according to agents, that number is only a fraction of the total border crossers, at least 70 to 80 percent of whom get away clean.
Asked why the upsurge in migrant crossing at Big Bend, Antonio told Bensman, “There’s no one watching” on the American side.
Indeed, the Border Patrol is stretched razor thin in West Texas, with many agents having been loaned out elsewhere to deal with the “baby-sitting” chores required by families and children. At times, Bensman reports, as few as a half dozen agents are available to patrol 120 miles of river, canyons, and mountains. The task is overwhelming and officials seem unwilling to address it. Bensman concludes:
There’s no sign that Washington headquarters is interested in reinforcing the beleaguered Big Bend outposts. Short of interest or much knowledge about what’s happening there, Big Bend will remain largely defenseless in a migration crisis that has arrived there and shows only signs of sharp escalation.
For more, see CIS.org.