Border Patrol agents are currently holding an average of 8,000 migrants per day in facilities in the Rio Grande Valley Sector of South Texas. This represents about half of the total number of migrants in U.S. custody nationwide.
Border Patrol officials in the Rio Grande Valley Sector tasked personnel to construct four temporary structures to hold the ever-increasing number of migrants apprehended in the nation’s busiest sector. Other temporary shelters are at capacity, according to information obtained from Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol officials.
“For months, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been very clear about the situation on the southern border, which is both a humanitarian and an operational crisis,” Acting CBP Commissioner John P. Sanders said in a statement on Saturday. “As of Friday, the U.S. Border Patrol had over 16,000 people in custody, many of whom are in overcrowded facilities. This is the result of a record number of Border Patrol apprehensions – 500,000 so far this year.”
Because of the ongoing crisis, Rio Grande Valley Sector officials were forced to build tents as auxiliary housing for processing and caring for migrants who have illegally crossed the border from Mexico, Breitbart News reported Saturday. The sector is averaging between 1,000 and 1,500 migrant apprehensions per day.