El Paso Border Patrol sees 57% migrant surge compared to last year

EL PASO, Texas– The El Paso sector is seeing a 57 percent increase in apprehensions compared to one year ago.

That's about 113,000 encounters, according to Border Patrol Public Affairs Spokesperson for the El Paso sector, Carlos Rivera.

“What we’re seeing here in the El Paso sector, along the border, is about 70 percent of total encounters are migrants trying to evade arrest, evade detection, flee from agents and further enter into the United States,” said Rivera.

Rivera told ABC-7 that they are seeing migrants attempt to cross through the Santa Teresa and the Sunland Park area.

To help combat the workload, Rivera said agents are moved to those areas.

He also said the top 5 migrant nationalities are Mexican, Guatemalan, Cuban, Nicaraguan and Haitian citizens.

Of the 57 percent, Rivera said the majority are expelled under Title 42.

Rivera said that the increase has been consistent and is not necessarily caused by the winding down of Title 42, set to end on May 23.

“It's been an upward trend in numbers, not necessarily since the announcement of one policy ending or another, but it's just been an upward trend in the last about year-and-a-half now,” said Rivera.

Uncertain of the future post-Title 42, Rivera said Border Patrol agents are prepared for any challenges, given what they saw during the 2019 surge.

“…we do have the resources, we do have a Centralized Processing Center and what that facility needs in order to prevent what we saw in 2019,” said Rivera.