After the surge: Inside look at El Paso’s Border Patrol sector after tumultuous year

EL PASO, Texas -- It's a calm fall afternoon for Border Patrol agent Carlos Antunez.

He's driving near the border in El Paso's Lower Valley. He's back doing what he signed up for -- patrolling. ABC-7 spent the afternoon with him during his shift.

"It’s been a very difficult year for agents in the El Paso Sector," Antunez said. " A lot of agents were not ready for the humanitarian crisis that we had."

Antunez has been agent for 13 years. He was born in Juarez and made his way to the U.S. as a teen. He joined the military, became a citizen and then became an agent.

"There’s a right way to do it, and there’s a wrong way to do it. We encourage people to do it the right way," Antunez said. "My family had to wait in Mexico for three or four years before we got our resident alien card, and then were able to be admitted in the U.S. Then after that, you have to go through another process to be a U.S. Citizen."

Antunez said of the most difficult things for agents was the fact that they went from patrolling to processing and taking care for migrants. Their duties changed, as more and more migrant families made their way to El Paso.

"We didn’t see an end to this crisis you know?" he said. "You see these kids, what they’re put through, the weeks of being exposed out in the elements of the weather -- hot, cold, rain, windy -- it kind of hits home because you have kids that are that age sometimes."

Apprehensions peaked in May of this year with 144,116. By the end of October, that number dropped to 45,250. The drop is largely attributed to changes in asylum rules implemented by the Trump Administration and an increased effort by the Mexican government to limit the number of migrants crossing into the U.S.

Interim El Paso Sector Chief Gloria Chavez took over in July, as the surge in migrants was beginning to decrease.

"It’s been a sense of -- the morale gets impacted immediately," Chavez said. "
"Exhaustion. Frustration. They needed the resources and they weren’t getting them."

Agents were also heavily scrutinized during the peak of the surge. ProPublica published a report which uncovered a secret Facebook group comprised of CBP employees.

Agents made jokes about migrant deaths and posted sexist memes.

"The border patrol has -- like any police department -- any law enforcement agency has its bad apples. It always has," Chavez said. "But the majority of the agents, they follow the rules, they follow the policy. "

Chavez said her goal is to preach accountability and transparency. She's also reached out to several activist groups and organizations to try to bridge a gap.

One of those groups is the Border Network for Human Rights (BNHR).

"What is inexcusable is that even in the midst of that crisis, you would abuse people or you would violate the U.S. Constitution," BNHR Executive Director Fernando Garcia said.

Garcia's group publishes an annual report documenting alleged cases of abuse from law enforcement agencies, including Border Patrol. The latest report documented allegations of "verbal and physical abuses from CBP personnel."

"My goal with BNHR is that we never are in one of his reports ever again, and i joked with him about that, and he says we could get there," Chavez said.

Garcia looks forward to improving the relationship with Border Patrol.

"She was saying that her mission was to make Border Patrol accountable, professional and transparent," Garcia said. "I think when she said that, for us it was like fresh air."

Chavez acknowledges that things have gotten better for agents in her sector, but she also said migration patterns change. Another surge could impact the sector at a moment's notice.

Agents like Antunez feel better prepared for what's in store in the future.

"I honestly feel morale is back up, and if we were to get hit with another influx of Central Americans, we would know how to react," he said.