Eagle Pass, Texas

By 6:30 a.m., there were scores of migrants, including parents carrying young children and babies, between a seemingly endless line of razor wire and the Rio Grande, pleading with Texas National Guardsmen to grant them safe passage into the U.S.

"Please, let us through," a woman in the river clamored in Spanish. "Let us pass," another migrant yelled. "There are kids in the water," a man said.

The migrants' pleas, and the cries of children, quickly drowned out instructions from the guardsmen armed with rifles. Pointing their flashlights towards the river, the guardsmen told the migrants in their broken Spanish to turn back.

"Crossing here is illegal," a guardsman noted.

"It's not safe," another visibly distressed National Guard member said as she watched migrants attempt to get through the wire.

A young man screamed when he appeared to cut himself on the wire. A mother was told by other migrants to calm down as she watched her son's clothing become tangled with the wire. Instructed to only intervene in extraordinary cases, such as life-or-death situations, the Texas National Guard soldiers could do little but watch.

Despite their struggles, the migrants gradually made their way through the concertina wire on that Wednesday morning. The Guardsmen, who are not authorized to enforce federal immigration law, directed them to walk along a dirt road to be processed by Border Patrol agents, who were nowhere to be seen. The migrants lined up and started walking. 

The migrants changed after entering the U.S., leaving behind wet pants and shirts along the dirt road, which was littered with countless heaps of abandoned clothes and trash.

"I never thought something like this could happen"

These dire scenes have become a daily occurrence near the Texas border town of Eagle Pass, now the busiest sector for illegal crossings alongside the remote Tucson sector in Arizona, where smugglers have been cutting parts of the border wall to let migrants into the U.S.

Despite the obstacles put in place by Texas state officials, the federal border wall, and policies implemented by the Biden administration to curb illegal entries, migrants have been crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in unprecedented numbers recently.

According to federal data obtained by CBS News, Border Patrol processed nearly 50,000 migrants who entered the U.S. illegally in just five days last week. Daily apprehensions exceeded 10,000 three times, compared to an average of 6,400 last month. Additionally, approximately 1,500 migrants are being processed each day at official border crossings through a Biden program utilizing a phone app.

This surge in unauthorized crossings has placed a strain on federal and local resources in communities across the country, from small towns like Eagle Pass, Jacumba Hot Springs, California, and Lukeville, Arizona, to larger cities such as Denver, Chicago, and New York. Furthermore, it has created a political challenge for Democrats leading up to the 2024 election.

In order to gain Republican support for increased aid to Ukraine, the White House and Senate Democrats are considering significant limitations on asylum, as well as an expansion of detention beds and deportations. While negotiations are ongoing in Congress, lawmakers have expressed a desire to reach a deal within the next few weeks.

In the Del Rio sector of Border Patrol, which includes Eagle Pass, the agency has processed up to 4,000 migrants in a 24-hour period in recent days, marking a record high for the area based on internal data.

"Unprecedented Increase in Border Crossings"

The rise in illegal border crossings has reached unprecedented levels, according to local authorities in Eagle Pass. What used to be small groups of 10 or 12 migrants crossing the border has now escalated to thousands in a single day. Fire Chief Manuel Mello, who has been with the department since the 1990s, expressed his shock at the situation, stating, "I never thought something like this could happen."

In response to the influx of migrants, Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass have set up a makeshift outdoor holding area to accommodate the growing numbers. Thousands of men, women, and children have been forced to sleep in this staging area, enduring temperatures that drop below 50 degrees overnight.

Mothers and fathers can be seen wrapping their children in Mylar blankets provided by Border Patrol, while adult men anxiously wait on the other side of orange construction fencing. Porta-potties have been brought in for the migrants' use, and officials and volunteers are distributing water and some food, including baby formula.

However, the migrants are facing indefinite waits as Border Patrol vans and buses transport some away from the staging area while new arrivals continue to cross the Rio Grande. Andrea Diaz, a migrant from Colombia, shared her experience, saying, "We have slept in the outdoor triage area for two nights, and we have no idea when we will be processed."

It has been a distressing experience for my baby. I am extremely concerned. She has cried excessively," a worried mother, Diaz, expressed in Spanish, while patiently waiting in line to obtain baby formula for her 4-month-old daughter.

Adding to the conversation, Diaz's husband, Jorge Villa, holding the baby in his arms, chimed in, "The cold in the early morning is truly biting."

Diaz explained that her family had to flee their hometown of Usme, located near Bogota, the capital of Colombia, due to threats her teenage son received from guerilla fighters. They mentioned having relatives in Chicago who were ready to assist them in settling down there.

When asked if all the hardships they had endured so far made the journey to the U.S. seem worthwhile, Diaz replied, "God willing, after all this effort."

"We sold nearly everything we owned in Colombia to make this journey," Diaz added.