Over 9,000 asylum seekers and counting have crossed this week from Mexico to Eagle Pass, Texas, where the mayor declared a state of emergency and Border Patrol agents have become overwhelmed..
“Before, we would hear rumors, [but] nothing happened,” Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber said. “But this time something happened.”
Mayor Rolando Salinas Jr. signed a disaster declaration for the city Wednesday evening. In response, the U.S. Department of Defense has sent 800 more active-duty troops to Eagle Pass to assist with the processing of migrants, adding to 2,500 National Guard members there. Border holding facilities are expanding by 3,250 people to nearly 23,000 and extending home surveillance nationwide for families awaiting initial asylum screenings.
Migrants struggle to cross the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas on Friday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Migrants wade across the Rio Grande from Mexico toward Eagle Pass, Texas.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Hundreds of migrants walk to a U.S. Border Patrol staging area to be loaded into vans and transported to a processing center.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
A man pleads with a National Guard member to be allowed to enter the U.S. after crossing the Rio Grande and burrowing through razor wire on the riverbank in Eagle Pass. He was turned away.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Migrants wade across the Rio Grande from Mexico toward Eagle Pass, Texas, on Friday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Migrants gather behind razor wire after crossing the Rio Grande into Eagle Pass.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Hundreds of migrant men wait to be transported by U.S. Border Patrol from a holding area near the Rio Grande.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
