Because the solar rises in El Paso, our convoy heads up Mount Cristo Rey. We’re driving 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 point out us how properly issues are going.
“That is as ahead as you might 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 approach 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 understand brokers aren’t inside these autos, they’re full of 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 a whole lot of footpaths that smugglers use to convey folks into the nation.”
However the paths are eerily quiet at this time. Clothes and water bottles are scattered all around 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 building once more for the primary time in practically 4 years.
The metallic limitations getting used have been possible saved away when the Biden administration halted building on the wall in 2021. Till the brand new Administration can get extra funding, they will 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 occasions. 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 working at this time. They obtained a name a few drone flying within the space and have been looking for it, however needed to ensure it did not belong to Border Patrol.
This degree of coordination between brokers on either side of the border is in contrast to something we have seen.
All alongside the Southwest border, we have reported a dramatic lower in apprehensions over the past eight months. The El Paso sector isn’t any exception, reporting simply 127 migrant encounters on Tuesday. In actual fact, they noticed a 63% lower in apprehensions the previous couple of months of fiscal 12 months 2024.
And but, extra assets and manpower are on their approach. A transparent effort by the Trump administration to ship a robust message.
“We all the time want extra, infrastructure and manpower, something that may assist us obtain securing our nation’s border,” Rubio provides as we drive away.
