Because the solar rises in El Paso, our convoy heads up Mount Cristo Rey. We’re using shotgun with border patrol brokers as they drive us alongside the state line, the place Texas turns into New Mexico and each states border Chihuahua, Mexico.
That is the primary embed given to any world information outlet by the U.S. Border Patrol for the reason that new Trump administration took workplace and it is clear, they’re keen to indicate us how effectively issues are going.
“That is as ahead as you will be on the entrance line,” Agent Orlando Rubio famous as we drove as much as the border wall.
A reporter’s pocket book from the primary Customs and Border Safety embed within the new Trump administration.
ABC Information
As we make our means down the street, we run right into a row of Border Patrol SUVs on the switchback roads of the mountainside. Nevertheless, as we get nearer, we notice brokers aren’t inside these autos, they’re stuffed with fight troopers. Dozens of them from Fort Bliss dressed of their fatigues, sitting out right here, simply watching.
“Most of this space is closely trafficked by smugglers,” Rubio informed ABC Information. “So, what we see is quite a lot of footpaths that smugglers use to deliver individuals into the nation.”
However the paths are eerily quiet at this time. Clothes and water bottles are scattered everywhere in the mountainside, however there’s not a single particular person in sight.
Most of this space has a border wall in place, however on Mount Cristo Rey, there are about 1.5 miles left open. Throughout our embed, our cameras caught crews beginning development once more for the primary time in practically 4 years.
The steel limitations getting used had been doubtless saved away when the Biden administration halted development on the wall in 2021. Till the brand new Administration can get extra funding, they’re going to must resourcefully use what they have left to assist safe the border.
After which, one thing I’ve by no means seen alongside the border, a black helicopter passing over us a number of instances. Rubio factors and waves to it earlier than explaining it is federal brokers from Mexico scouting the world for smugglers.
A reporter’s pocket book from the primary Customs and Border Safety embed within the new Trump administration.
ABC Information
We’re driving to test one thing else out once we see one other group of Mexican federal brokers alongside the border, flagging us down. In Spanish, they ask U.S. brokers if there are any CBP operations operating at this time. They bought a name a few drone flying within the space and had been looking for it, however wished to ensure it did not belong to Border Patrol.
This stage of coordination between brokers on each side of the border is not like something we have seen.
All alongside the Southwest border, we have reported a dramatic lower in apprehensions during the last eight months. The El Paso sector is not any exception, reporting simply 127 migrant encounters on Tuesday. In truth, they noticed a 63% lower in apprehensions the previous couple of months of fiscal yr 2024.
And but, extra assets and manpower are on their means. A transparent effort by the Trump administration to ship a powerful message.
“We at all times want extra, infrastructure and manpower, something that may assist us obtain securing our nation’s border,” Rubio provides as we drive away.