Border Patrol agents are again warning migrants not to go to the border unless they have an appointment to enter the country legally, following new reports of people rushing after being told the country was opening its doors on "International Migrant's Day."
"Rumors circulating on social media that areas between the ports of entry on the southwest border will be open for migration due to the International Migrant's Day are patently false," Border Patrol said in a statement on Wednesday.
The agency went on to again warn migrants to "not listen to misinformation being circulated by transnational criminal organizations about entering the United States illegally between the ports of entry."
It is the latest episode illustrating how smuggling organizations are encouraging migrants to rush to the border before President-elect Donald Trump takes office and begins to implement what he has described as the "largest deportation operation in American history."
Many anticipate the incoming president will dismantle legal pathways of entry into the U.S., including a government app that allows people to apply for asylum in the U.S. while in Mexico and then cross legally when they have an appointment, a system that was created just last year, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.
"Coyotes" or "polleros," as these smugglers are known, are reportedly using WhatsApp and social-media groups to tell immigrants that the time to reach the U.S. is now or never.
A recent surge in illegal border crossings in South Texas has in fact been reported as January 20 approaches.
The Rio Grande Valley sector reported 1,276 migrant arrests over the past weekend, a sharp increase from the 400 to 600 weekly apprehensions seen in recent months, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Chief Patrol Agent Gloria I. Chavez.
The arrests included migrants from eight countries, alongside 13 human smuggling cases and six narcotics seizures. Chavez noted this was the highest weekend total for the sector since December 2023.
While other border regions have maintained lower crossing rates, sources cited by Newsweek suggest increased activity in Del Rio and South Texas. Monthly CBP statistics for November are expected to provide a broader picture of the most recent trends.
The news come as another migrant caravan departed Tapachula on Wednesday with around 1,000 migrants, the ninth big caravan to leave Mexico's border region with Guatemala headed for the U.S. since early October, as the Washington Post reports.
No caravan has managed to get close to the U.S. border. In fact, no major caravans has reached the United States in nearly six years and recent efforts have been dismantled by Mexican authorities, with some migrants being bused to cities in southern Mexico, and others being offered transit papers.
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