Small Texas Border Town Declares Emergency Over Mass Migration

The city of Eagle Pass, Texas, declared a state of emergency over a surge in migrants entering illegally.

Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas Jr., who serves roughly 28,000 residents, issued the declaration Tuesday for a period of one week, according to the announcement. A few thousand migrants have been seen crossing the southern border into Eagle Pass in recent days, according to videos of the incidents.

“The city of Eagle Pass is committed to the safety and well being of local citizens. The emergency declaration grants us the ability to request financial resources to provide the additional services caused by the influx of the undocumented immigrants,” Salinas said in Wednesday’s statement.

Border Patrol recorded more than 1.6 million illegal crossings at the southern border between October 2022 and July, according to federal data. In fiscal year 2022, the number of illegal crossings hit a record 2.2 million.

Miles from Eagle Pass is Del Rio, Texas, where roughly 15,000 illegal migrants, mostly from Haiti, amassed under the international bridge in a matter of days in September 2021.

Other areas of the southern border, such as San Diego and El Paso, are also seeing surges in illegal immigration in recent days.

In recent days, thousands of migrants were seen atop freight trains in Mexico heading north toward the U.S. border. As a result, the services 0f trains in Mexico were suspended.