US

Mass Weekend Border Crossing Overwhelms El Paso, Texas

Migrants queue near the border wall after crossing the Rio Bravo river, in Ciudad Juarez

REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

Alyssa Blakemore Contributor
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The Texas border town of El Paso saw a weekend surge in migrant crossings as more than 1,000 illegal migrants waded across the Rio Grande Sunday night.

US Border Patrol reported a “three-day average of 2,460 daily encounters, primarily through the downtown area of El Paso,” local Border Patrol Chief Peter Jaquez tweeted. Agents from the surrounding area were pulled in to assist with processing, Customs and Border Protection told Fox News. (RELATED: Illegal Migrant Says ‘The Border Is Open’ Despite Kamala Harris Calling It ‘Secure’)

Sunday’s crossing put the total number of border encounters with migrants at more than 16,000 in just 48 hours, Fox News’ Bill Melugin noted.

Hundreds were released from federal custody, with 268 provisional releases carried out Saturday and another 498 on Sunday, CBS4 News cited US Border Patrol. Officials referred to a provisional release as “a safe and humane release of migrants, who are placed into the community” and await further processing, the outlet said.

Prior to the weekend’s border crossings, Mexican police escorted nearly 20 buses full of migrants into the Mexican border city of Cuidad Juarez, Melugin noted. Migrants were released to multiple NGOs, where they walked to the river and illegally crossed the border into El Paso.

Most of the migrants hail from Nicaragua, The New York Times reported. Mexico refuses to accept Nicaraguans, and the United States is limited in its ability to expel them, leading to their quick release as they await further proceedings, the outlet noted.

The weekend’s surge in illegal crossings precedes Tuesday’s scheduled visit by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to El Paso, Border Report confirmed.