The head of the Border Patrol Union in Texas says the number of people who are crossing the Rio Grande into Texas illegally is reaching the high that was set during the 'unaccompanied minors' crisis of 2014, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Chris Cabrera told a State House hearing that many of them are not even attempting to elude detection.
"I see people on a daily basis, just hundreds and hundreds of people, just walking up and turning themselves in," he said.
The immigrant smuggling gangs which control the Mexican side of the Rio Grande are very attuned to political developments in the United States. Speculation is, they are aware of the new support for 'refugees' in the U.S., and are encouraging illegal immigrants to claim refugee status in hopes of being released into the country with a vague 'promise to appear' at a future hearing.
They are also aware of the strong economy north of the border, and the fact that many companies and officials are turning a blind eye to illegal migration, because workers of all types are badly needed.
"We had a group the other day of well over a hundred people walk up and turning themselves in," Cabrera said. "At the same time, there are six other groups spread out over ten miles. They know they are distracting us."
Cabrera urged the Legislature to allow the Border Patrol to have some agents trained as Texas police officers, so they can help small Texas towns deal with the fallout of the flood of illegal immigrants crossing into Texas.
That includes everything from helping with crashes involving smugglers, like the deadly one in Big Wells in June and the one earlier this week in Paris, in east Texas, to the petty crime in small towns which has been blamed on illegal immigrants passing through.
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