(DailyVantage.com) – There have been countless tales of the struggles illegal immigrants face when trying to cross the border. Many seek the help of smugglers, paying a hefty fee to ride in a truck packed with several others in unsafe conditions. Now, Border Patrol officers are seeing an uptick in migrants attempting to enter the US via train cars in Uvalde, Texas, and it’s putting their lives at severe risk.
On February 28, Chief Patrol Agent Jason Owens noted that there had been a stunning 40 migrants hiding in train cars, hoping to evade authorities while crossing into the US.
In 48 hours, nearly 40 migrants were encountered by our Uvalde agents assigned to train operations…again, locked inside auto racks in frigid temperatures, with no way to escape.
Not a trend we want to see continued…
Read more here: https://t.co/aSS8GdYLXV pic.twitter.com/ZTBSGQjzFg
— Chief Patrol Agent Jason D. Owens (@USBPChiefDRT) March 1, 2022
Inside the freight cars, the illegal immigrants hide in vehicles the trains transport. Aside from the obvious legal breach, the problem is the train cars are cold, putting the migrants at risk of hypothermia when exposed to cold conditions for extended periods. On February 28, authorities captured 25 immigrants from Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador, and the temperature in the train cars was 31 degrees.
Then, there’s the fact they’re not just hiding inside the train cars. Some hitch a ride on top of the trains, while others hold onto the undercarriages for dear life. While authorities haven’t yet found anyone injured or dead from these attempts, they believe it’s only a matter of time.
Illegal immigrants’ safety isn’t the only concern. One of the men captured pulled a knife on authorities before they could take him into custody. Border Patrol agents found another was a convicted child molester. Criminals elements like these put American lives at risk, too.
Local law enforcement officials and Border Patrol agents say the additional duty of monitoring the roughly 6,500 rail cars that enter El Paso, Texas, from Mexico each month stresses their resources.
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