Drone footage shared on Twitter on Sunday shows nearly 1,000 illegal immigrants being held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection under a bridge in Mission, Texas, according to Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin.
“NEW: This is the largest group of migrants we’ve ever seen being held by Border Patrol under Anzalduas Bridge in Mission, TX,” Melugin posted on Twitter along with the video of the scene. “Looks like it could be up to 1,000 people. We can only get a look at the area with our drone. There’s a popular Rio Grande crossing area nearby.”
In the video, hundreds of illegal immigrants are seen waiting under the bridge.
Townhall’s Julio Rosas also shared multiple images of the scene from the ground, writing on Twitter, “I’ve seen Border Patrol’s processing site underneath the Anzalduas International Bridge in Mission, TX off and on since March. I can say this is the most illegal immigrants I’ve seen at the site at one time. It’s close to 100 degrees out right now.”
Both Republican and Democrat lawmakers were stunned by the scene and criticized the “disaster” at the US-Mexico border.
“Stunning footage that shows the true disaster that continues to unfold at the border,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) wrote. “Because of Biden & Harris, instead of a secure border, it’s a revolving door that so far over 800,000 illegal aliens have taken advantage of since they took office. #BidenBorderCrisis.”
“Our DHS agents, & border communities, are overwhelmed & must be prioritized,” Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar tweeted. “DHS will again encounter over 180,000 immigrants at the southern border during July—adding to the more than 1M immigrants that have arrived at the southern border in FY21. Something has to change!”
According to Melugin, only one Border Patrol vehicle was seen in La Joya on Sunday, and a Department of Homeland Security source said the agency is “so overrun in the Rio Grande Valley, most agents are being pulled from the field to help with processing of families” leaving many areas without any agents on patrol.
“Cartels & human smugglers are very tactical,” Melugin wrote. “They will send large family groups across the border to suck up Border Patrol resources. Then, when they’re being processed, they send the runners across elsewhere. Here’s a grade A example we previously shot here in La Joya.”
As thousands of illegal immigrants continue pouring across the US-Mexico border, Chris Cabrera, a vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, told Fox News that border agents are being forced to release COVID-positive illegal immigrants into the United States “day in, day out.”
“Not everyone we encounter we test, only those that exhibit some type of symptoms and not everybody has symptoms that has it,” Cabrera warned. “And we’re releasing people out of the door day in and day out with actual positive tests for COVID and more keep popping up.”
