Smugglers are doing a Tex. sidestep
Migrant smuggling coordinated by cartels has exploded in the states west of Texas after the Lone Star State implemented stricter measures to secure its border with Mexico, several officials told The Post.
The strategy change comes after the state increased the number of National Guard troops and Department of Public Safety officers deployed to secure the border and place more razor wire, barricades and deterrents to stop illegal crossings, as part of its Operation Lone Star.
In one of the most dramatic examples, after Texas troops moved in to secure Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, and placed shipping containers as barricades on the banks of the Rio Grande and arrested for trespassing migrants who cross onto state property, the DPS said crossings dropped from 2,000 to 3,000 a day to around five.
But migrants are still flooding to the border, leading people-smuggling operations run by Mexican cartels to areas further west.
Manny Bayon, National Border Patrol Council president for San Diego,
told The Post smugglers now concentrate on Arizona and California.
The San Diego sector of the border has exploded in the number of people arrested, with roughly 2,300 migrants in custody as of Wednesday morning, according to internal Border Patrol data obtained by The Post. The sector has the capacity to hold just 750.
San Diego became the top area for illegal crossings for the first time in 20 years in April with 37,370 encounters, according to NewsNation.
In one week of April, there were 10,000 migrants encountered from 69 countries in the sector, according to San Diego Chief Patrol Agent Patricia McGurk-Daniel
And since September, roughly 140,000 migrants have been released by the patrol onto local streets after crossing illegally, according to San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond.
Mexican law enforcement has taken measures to stop migrants from transiting the country without permits to do so, according to Border Report.