Shocking photos and drone footage posted to social media show “hundreds” of migrants, waiting to be processed by Customs and Border Protection, being held under a bridge in the scorching Texas heat — a line that at least one immigration reporter called “the largest group…we’ve ever seen.”
Drone footage of the crush of asylum seekers surfaced on social media on Saturday and photos of the massive number of migrants emerged on Sunday.
Fox LA’s Bill Melugin was able to capture the scene, adding that the influx began on Friday.
“Our FOX drone is currently over Anzalduas Bridge in Mission, TX where a massive group of hundreds of migrants are waiting to be processed out in the heat. Local Border Patrol stations in the McAllen area are extremely over capacity. Over 3,000 in one day on Friday,” Melugin said on Twitter.
NEW: Our FOX drone is currently over Anzalduas Bridge in Mission, TX where a massive group of hundreds of migrants are waiting to be processed out in the heat. Local Border Patrol stations in the McAllen area are extremely over capacity. Over 3,000 in one day on Friday. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/IRwttFGkuF
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) August 1, 2021
Melugin, who frequently covers the border for Fox LA, went on to say that this is the “largest group of migrants we’ve ever seen.”
“NEW: This is the largest group of migrants we’ve ever seen being held by Border Patrol under Anzalduas Bridge in Mission, TX. Looks like it could be up to 1,000 people. We can only get a look at the area with our drone. There’s a popular Rio Grande crossing area nearby,” Melugin said.
Julio Rosas, who also frequently covers the border, noted that he has witnessed lines under the Anzalduas International Bridge before, but nothing like what Melugin’s drone captured over the weekend. Rosas also noted the hot weather; typically, immigration slows in the summer months because of the arid conditions in the Rio Grande Valley, but according to border patrol numbers, that is not the case in 2021.
“I’ve seen Border Patrol’s processing site underneath the Anzalduas International Bridge in Mission, TX off and on since March. I can say this is the most illegal immigrants I’ve seen at the site at one time. It’s close to 100 degrees out right now,” Rosas said on Twitter.
I’ve seen Border Patrol’s processing site underneath the Anzalduas International Bridge in Mission, TX off and on since March.
I can say this is the most illegal immigrants I’ve seen at the site at one time. It’s close to 100 degrees out right now. pic.twitter.com/BZAt6RogmD
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) August 1, 2021
Melugin noted, later, that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has re-routed much of its local force to this bridge to help with processing, leaving other areas of the border exposed and open to illegal immigration and human trafficking.
The footage was so concerning that a Democrat Congressman weighed in late Saturday, suggesting that “something has to change!”
Our DHS agents, & border communities, are overwhelmed & must be prioritized. DHS will again encounter over 180,000 immigrants at the southern border during July—adding to the more than 1M immigrants that have arrived at the southern border in FY21. Something has to change! pic.twitter.com/VszU8txBEN
— Rep. Henry Cuellar (@RepCuellar) July 31, 2021
The Biden administration announced recently that it will return $2.2 billion that was diverted from other Homeland Security projects to build the Trump administration’s border wall. House Democrats, GovExec noted last month, are looking to slash the number of Department of Homeland Security officers tasked with law enforcement, “redistributing” those resources elsewhere.
Vice President Kamala Harris, tasked with handling the ongoing border crisis, released the administration’s plan for handling the “root causes” of illegal immigration last week but focused on providing further monetary resources to Mexico and Central American countries, as well as facilitating support from non-profits — measures that likely will not improve the current situation at the border.
CBP has yet to release the number of border encounters it had during the month of July, but land border encounters were on an upward trajectory as of the end of June.