Eagle Pass bridge overwhelmed by thousands of immigrants closes: 'Collapsing operations'

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

AUSTIN, Texas — The small border town of Eagle Pass is facing its own Del Rio bridge crisis exactly two years after thousands of immigrants illegally crossed the Mexico border and were held under a bridge for days.

The town of 30,000 residents has seen thousands of noncitizens swimming and wading across the Rio Grande from Mexican city Piedras Negras in the last several days, according to five federal law enforcement agents who spoke with the Washington Examiner on Wednesday.

NEW: The crisis situation in border town Eagle Pass, Texas, has become a repeat of what happened in Del Rio two years ago this week
Overwhelmed with thousands of migrants crossing, Border Patrol is holding people under a bridge
Photo shared by federal law enforcement pic.twitter.com/OefFr5CyAK
— Anna Giaritelli (@Anna_Giaritelli) September 20, 2023

Videos shared with the Washington Examiner show streams of immigrants being led across the river into Eagle Pass overnight earlier this week, as well as roughly 2,000 people being held under an international bridge due to a lack of facilities and transportation.

"We are getting hit right now," a Border Patrol agent based in Eagle Pass said. "They're collapsing operations."

By late afternoon Wednesday, Customs and Border Protection announced it was closing two bridges affected by the crossings.

"Beginning this afternoon, CBP's Office of Field Operations will temporarily suspend vehicle processing operations at Bridge 1 and the international railway crossing bridge in Eagle Pass, Texas in order to redirect personnel to assist the U.S. Border Patrol with taking migrants into custody," CBP said in a statement. "In response to this influx in encounters, we will continue to surge all available resources to expeditiously and safely process migrants. We will maximize consequences against those without a legal basis to remain in the United States. CBP will continue to prioritize our border security mission as necessary in response to this evolving situation."

NEW: In border town Eagle Pass, Texas, migrants streamed across the Rio Grande from Mexico late Sunday in what one Border Patrol agent described as "collapsing operations."#BorderCrisispic.twitter.com/wG8USDJHGW
— Anna Giaritelli (@Anna_Giaritelli) September 20, 2023

Approximately 1,500 people crossed the river Sunday into Monday. As of Wednesday, 2,000 people were in custody, and many were sitting under an international bridge in Eagle Pass due to a lack of space at regional Border Patrol facilities, according to a second Border Patrol agent, a senior official in the field.

The Border Patrol's Del Rio Sector, which includes Eagle Pass, "is out of control," according to the senior agent.

"Del Rio Sector has over 2K on the ground," the same agent said on Wednesday, based on the latest data available to federal law enforcement officials.

Eagle Pass, Texas: Border Patrol agents are seeing a constant flow of non-U.S. citizens crossing the Rio Grande in the last several days, beyond the normal hundreds who cross every night.
The city has declared an emergency.
Photos shared by law enforcement on site. pic.twitter.com/oWCDS2BGTX
— Anna Giaritelli (@Anna_Giaritelli) September 20, 2023

The sudden flood forced Mayor Rolando Salinas Jr. to declare an emergency on Tuesday due to the mass arrests and releases of immigrants directly on the street across the small city. The disaster declaration will remain in effect through Sept. 25.

Eagle Pass Police Chief Federico Garza Jr. told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday that the mass crossings have triggered Border Patrol to release processed immigrants into the community immediately, directly on the street, not to the town's sole nonprofit group, which is overwhelmed.

"I'm seeing them walking the street with a bag in their hand. They're lost. They don't know what to do," Garza said in a phone call.

Eagle Pass, TX - Mayor Rolando Salinas, Jr. issued and signed emergency declaration due severe undocumented immigrant surge into the City of Eagle Pass, Texas. The state of disaster shall continue for a period of seven (7) days from the date of this declaration,September 19, 2023 pic.twitter.com/dfHJkWRVmV
— OfficialCityEaglePassTexas (@CityEaglePassTx) September 20, 2023

The endless line of people crossed through the river in a single-file fashion, not far from where Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) had ordered the state military to install a floating barrier to block illegal crossings.

Another video exclusively obtained by the Washington Examiner shows rows of concertina wire on the ground and a parade of immigrants walking along the U.S. shoreline in search of a break in the wire where they can walk into the United States.

The influx of thousands of people has forced Border Patrol to hold people outside under the bridge until there is space and transportation to move people for processing.

Video shot earlier this week in Eagle Pass, Texas, shows migrants who crossed from Mexico walking along the shore trying to find a break in concertina wire that @GregAbbott_TX had soldiers install to funnel people to certain openings to ensure no one gets past law enforcement pic.twitter.com/NrKvk90RDV
— Anna Giaritelli (@Anna_Giaritelli) September 20, 2023

Two years ago this week, roughly 20,000 illegal immigrants crossed into Del Rio in a matter of days and were held by Border Patrol under an international bridge. The sudden surge of mostly Haitian citizens made national news as the Biden administration struggled to respond to the mass incursion.

A spokesman for CBP said the Border Patrol was in a significantly better position to respond to mass illegal immigration events now than in 2021. The official said CBP does not anticipate the situation in Eagle Pass to grow to the size of Del Rio.

The illegal immigration crisis that erupted at the U.S.-Mexico border in early 2021, shortly after President Joe Biden took office, has gone unresolved and, in recent weeks, has taken a turn for the worse as more noncitizens attempt to enter the country.

Border Patrol officials across the 2,000-mile southern border have shared with the Washington Examiner accounts of illegal immigrants flooding across the Rio Grande day and night.