Border Patrol sources claim 9,100 people crossed from Mexico to Arizona, US, in a day as the border crisis rumbles on.
It comes close to the record number of 10,000 that was set in May, when Title 42 Covid restrictions expired. Huge floodgates preventing people from simply walking into Arizona had been welded open, although border officials have since shut them.
It has still resulted in a large influx of migrants into the state, reports the New York Post. In a 24-hour period, Border Patrol agents in Arizona took 7,400 people into custody.
Another 1,700 migrants reportedly turned up at the ports on the same day. It led to Border Patrol agents having to release people into the streets of Arizona towns, federal law enforcement sources said.
“A lot of these issues happen because the cartels, they’re the ones who control the border,” Art Del Cueto from the National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents Border Patrol, agents told The Post Thursday.
“They’re the ones who determine where people cross, who can cross, everything.”
Del Cueto says US-Mexico border officers have more resources in other parts of the country. He highligted Texas, which has deployed its National Guard, razor wire and a floating border barrier in the Rio Grande internatinal boundary.
He claims smugglers have now moved migrants looking to enter the country to remote stretches of Arizona.
The official explained: “The cartels are not dumb — they know where the exposure is, they know where people are focused on. A lot of traffic has moved over to Tucson sector.”
Del Cueto claims the border is seeing an influx in asylum seekers to cover up the cartel’s drug operation. He said: “The drug smugglers are the ones in charge of smuggling these people in. This, to them, is just moonlighting. Their main job is to bring drugs into the United States.
“They know that by using people … they distract more agents and it opens up the border to where they can continuously bring more drugs.”
The Tescon sector has become the focal point for migrant apprehensions since July. It has overtaken hot spots such as El Paso and Del Rio in Texas, which had been the busiest crossing points over the last two years.
The Tucson sector spans almost all of Arizona, expect for Yuma. It is largely desolate with small towns dotted along it.
Tucson, the closest city, is around two hours away from the border itself. Del Cueto is reported as saying there is no federal border at the Tohono O’odham Nation Reservation either, instead it is barbed wire.
Once a migrant is caught in the US, they have to be taken to a processing centre. Once there they can pursue asylum and stay in the country, or be deported.
In Southern Arizona, the processing centres are said to be so in-demand that the agency has run out of rooms at detention center. In the last few days, the agency has reportedly started releasing people into the streets with at least 5,000 migrants set free in towns such as Casa Grande and Nogales.
Del Cueto reportedly shared pictures of men with so-called “notices to appear” hanging around in public places. These notices give them court dates to appear before an immigration judge who can determine if they have a legal basis to remain in the USA.
These court dates can however be years down the road, due to a backlog in immigration cases.
