Videos released on Thursday depict a chaotic scene at the El Paso border in Texas, as a large group of illegal migrants attempted to enter the United States from Mexico. According to a reporter on the ground, the Texas National Guard was overwhelmed by the influx of migrants.
In January, the number of crossings on the southwest land border in Texas was recorded at 68,260, as per the data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This figure marks a decrease from the 149,806 migrants who entered in December. However, it is still one of the highest rates in the country, which has further motivated state officials to take matters into their own hands.
Efforts to enact their own immigration laws, which would permit the arrest, detainment, and removal of suspected illegal immigrants, are still being litigated by Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott and other conservative officials.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has put the recently enacted Texas Senate Bill 4 on hold, following the Supreme Court’s decision to allow the law to be implemented.
According to Jennie Taer, a reporter for the New York Post, the situation was characterized as a “riot.” She observed that there were numerous migrants who had reached a breaking point and no longer wanted to be turned away by Texas soldiers and sent back to Mexico.
“This is the moment when the Texas National Guard was overwhelmed by migrants who were rioting to cross the border here in El Paso today,” Taer stated in a post on X, along with a different perspective of the scene from the U.S. side of the border. “We were present and witnessed the entire incident. It’s complete chaos here.”
In a video posted by Taer on X, she vividly recounted the moment when the Texas National Guard was “overrun by migrants” as she observed a fence being pulled down. With a tone of disbelief, Taer described the scene as one of “absolute chaos.”
Newsweek contacted the Texas Department of Public Safety and other officials through email to seek their comment.
In a separate perspective, possibly captured hours before the post timestamp, there is a depiction of migrants surpassing the razor wire that was set up by soldiers from the Texas National Guard.
Mexican photojournalist J. Omar Ornelas reported that in the dead of night, the Texas National Guard forcefully pushed hundreds of migrants south of the concertina wire. He shared a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, to highlight the incident. Later, after a few hours, the migrants managed to breach the concertina once again and made a frantic rush towards the border wall in El Paso, Texas.
According to Ornelas, the migrants crossing the border come from various regions including Africa, Central America, Colombia, and Venezuela.
Physical barriers, such as razor wire, floating barriers in the Rio Grande, and walls reaching heights of up to 30 feet, have become a common sight in places like El Paso. These measures have increasingly become the norm since the initiation of Operation Lone Star in March 2021.
El Paso has gained a reputation as a sought-after location for migrants, and local physicians have observed a concerning trend regarding injuries sustained by these individuals. According to doctors in the area, migrants who attempt to scale the towering border walls often suffer severe and lasting damage to their lower limbs. This consistent pattern of injuries is both alarming and devastating for those involved.
According to David Stout, who has served as a county commissioner in El Paso’s Precinct 2 for nearly a decade, Governor Abbott and his associates are intentionally creating chaos at the border for political purposes.
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