Sunland Park residents experience increased border patrol activity

Sunland Park residents tell ABC-7 they’ve seen increased Border Patrol activity within the past couple of weeks.

A resident, who did not want to be identified, but has lived in Sunland Park her entire life, tells ABC-7 she’s never seen activity like this before.

“It’s increased a lot lately. You see agents on the ground, you see the agents late at night, and we saw a takedown right in front of our house and it was kind of crazy but it was just one person and it kind of worries me a bit because I do have a daughter and she’s really little and you never know if they bring over drugs, or guns or anything like that.”

The woman says she was outside her home with her boyfriend when they heard commotion.

“We had seen an SUV, an immigration SUV pull up and they kind of parked right by the stop sign and you just saw them get down, and then half of them left and half of them stayed here, and they kind of just swept down the street,” the woman said, “and all of sudden, we see someone make some noise out of the corner of the street and they just jet down the street and my heart started racing I’m like oh my gosh, they’re going to chase him, they’re going to take him down. And they took him down right in front of our house, right on the sidewalk.”

Jesus Monroy, another Sunland Park resident, lives in an apartment complex off of El Cerro. He tells ABC-7 he sees agents pass through his neighborhood at least twice a day.

“It’s normal to see everyday with immigration border patrol running, rolling by either in the SUV’s, quads, or helicopter pretty much everyday,” Jesus Monroy said.

Monroy says with ongoing discussion about the border wall, he believes more people may be attempting to cross into the US illegally before the wall is built. Monroy believes that’s what’s caused the increase in border patrol activity.

“I wasn’t used to seeing border patrol roaming through the streets, here in Sunland unless they had a call, and now it’s pretty much everyday, every night that they’re out and about.”

Monroy said there have been people passing through his neighborhood asking for water, but says most of the time, they cross through and get out of the Sunland Park area. Monroy says although he doesn’t feel scared personally, he understands why some people might be.

“Of course,you can’t compare someone if they lived in the Northeast side of El Paso or on the Eastside, they’re not used to seeing you going outside your door and all of sudden seeing a lot of people running,” Monroy said.

ABC-7 reached out to officials with U.S Border Patrol about the increase in activity but have not heard back yet. Sunland Park Police declined to comment on the story.