(Daily Mail) This is the moment Border Patrol agents opened the gates at the southern border to let illegal migrants in – just after Texas National Guard officers had locked it.
Footage showed the armed agents – who work under the direction of the Biden administration – unbuckle the barb-wire fence before several asylum seekers – including men, women and children – walked through.
Agents then stood around chatting and finally shut the barrier between Mexico and the US after dozens had filed past them into the country, as the Texas National Guard watched on helplessly.
The video was roundly slammed online, with Texas Governor Greg Abbott leading the charge by branding it ‘unbelievable’ and blaming Joe Biden’s border policies for the influx.
It comes amid a surging crisis in the US as migrants from across South America ditch their homes and trek thousands of miles in search of a better life in the States. At least two million are reported to have entered the country already this year, setting a new national record dating back 22 years.
Meanwhile Abbott has been sending bus loads of them up to New York to try to ease the pressure in Texas, causing Big Apple Mayor Eric Adams to offload them into luxury hotels across the city.
A group of around 25 migrants are seen waiting on the Mexican side of the fence, as the National Guard stands watch
Border Patrol agents, in green, arrive and are seen opening the gate as the National Guard, in their military clothes, look on
The migrants begin to enter U.S. territory, assisted by the border agents
NEW: For the first time, we witnessed the TX National Guard close & lock a gate on private property at a major crossing area in Eagle Pass, denying entry to migrants who just crossed illegally & expected to be let in. Border Patrol then came w/ a key & let them in for processing. pic.twitter.com/S1fZaTJnEi
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) August 17, 2022
This was the moment Border Patrol arrived with the key and let the migrants in. The landowner allows both TX DPS/National Guard and Border Patrol to work here. The gate has always been left open in the past. TX is now closing it, & migrants have to wait for BP to be let in. pic.twitter.com/AR4S9Vn3qH
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) August 17, 2022
Border Patrol opening gates etc to allow migrants in is not new. They have to process migrants on U.S. soil per federal law. What’s new is TX is now closing the gate & denying entry at this major crossing location. Always open in months past, including this video I shot in May. pic.twitter.com/FfWWvoch6r
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) August 17, 2022
The latest footage was captured by Fox News‘s border reporting team, using drones. They said it was the first time they had seen such a scenario. It also underscores the differing approach by the state and federal teams.
Bill Melugin, Fox’s correspondent on the border, tweeted it was the first time he had seen the National Guard locking the gate and standing guard. He said: ‘Border Patrol opening gates etc to allow migrants in is not new.
‘They have to process migrants on U.S. soil per federal law. What’s new is TX is now closing the gate & denying entry at this major crossing location. Always open in months past, including this video I shot in May.’
Abbott deployed the Texas National Guard in March 2021, terming the mission Operation Lone Star. Since then the operation has ramped up to see 10,000 troops deployed along the border.
On Wednesday, he said he was outraged by the CBP’s actions. ‘Unbelievable,’ he tweeted. ‘While Texas secures the border, the federal government is enabling illegal immigration.
‘Biden’s open border policies caused this crisis. The federal government must do its job & fix it.’
Abbott is know for taking headline-grabbing measures to deal with the situation on the border, amid record-breaking arrivals, and his own re-election campaign ahead of the November election.
He launched this spring a policy of sending migrants from Texas to Washington DC on buses, if they chose, in a bid to take the problem directly to the capital.
Abbott in August extended the program to New York City, and the Republican governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey, has followed suit. So far, 10,000 migrants have been bussed north.
Under the Biden administration, CBP agents are told to focus their energies on processing migrants, rather than blocking their entry. Some agents expressed their anger at being taken away from the border duties.
‘I know the policies of this administration are not particularly popular with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, but that’s the reality, and let’s see what we can do within that framework,’ said Alejandro Mayorkas, the Homeland Security Secretary, in an address to CBP agents in January.
The new video came as CBP sources reportedly revealed total arrivals for the fiscal year 2022 had now surpassed two million – setting a new national record.
New figures released this week show that less than 200,000 migrants were encountered in July, a two month consecutive decrease in crossings. As of July, CBP encountered 1.82 million migrants in Fiscal Year 2022 – but in the first half of August, it increased to more than 2 million
Images from the border this week show groups of hundreds of migrants crossing from Mexico into the U.S. – specifically thousands were spotted in recent days crossing into Eagle Pass, Texas
