Family Units and Unaccompanied Children Continue to Flow into the Rio Grande Valley

HIDALGO, Texas – U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley continue to apprehend large groups of family units and unaccompanied children.

Monday evening, agents assigned to the Weslaco station encountered a group of 30 illegal aliens comprised of family units and unaccompanied children from the countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Early this morning, a group of 68 illegal aliens turned themselves in to McAllen agents. The group was comprised of family units and unaccompanied children from the countries of Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

“As the Rio Grande Valley Sector continues to experience an unprecedented flow of family units and unaccompanied children, the increase in identified fraud cases is extremely concerning,” said Chief Patrol Agent Manuel Padilla, Jr. “The trend in these fraud cases is an effort by smugglers to exploit ongoing U.S. immigration policies and procedures. Agents have already discovered over 60 fraudulent cases in the first two weeks of the new fiscal year.”

Border Patrol is processing the subjects accordingly.

The Rio Grande Valley Sector currently has multiple campaigns focused on rescues and danger awareness, such as “Operation Big Rig” and “No Se Arriesgue” to combat smuggling and ultimately save lives. Call 911 to report suspicious activity; “They’re humans, not cargo!”