Chaotic moments were captured on video showing migrants near El Paso, Texas who had been pushed away from the border wall by Texas soldiers flood over razor wire fencing and make a mad dash to return to the border barrier.
Dozens of migrants can be seen climbing and flooding over several layers of concertina wire strung up by members of the Texas National Guard in a video tweeted Thursday by independent photographer J. Omar Ornelas.
‘Hundreds of migrants were pushed south of the concertina wire in the middle of the night by Texas National Guard,’ the border snapper explained.
‘Hours later they again breached the concertina and made a rush for the border wall in El Paso, Texas.’
The migrants are already in the US as they had already crossed the international boundary, which is a few hundred yards south of the border wall.
Wild moment migrants make mad dash for the border in El Paso after breaching Texas razor wire
Migrants camp out along concertina wire on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande on the day the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals hears oral arguments on Texas’ motion to lift a block on its SB4 immigration law that would allow state officials to arrest migrants suspected of being in the country illegally, in El Paso, Texas
Many of these asylum seeking migrants had chosen not to turn surrender themselves immediately as this is a well-known place to give up to US Border Patrol agents, because they were caught in limbo due a Texas law SB4.
The controversial law gives state and local police in the Lone Star State permission to arrest illegal immigrants, a right that has only been reserved for federal officers like US Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The law, which has been banned several times in recent days by federal courts, was then allowed to take effect for a few hours Tuesday, before it blocked again Tuesday night.
The legal whiplash left many migrants unsure would would happen to them if they turned themselves over to Border Patrol.
Tension had been building up for the last two days as the camp grew.
Known as ‘Gate 36’ this is popular give up spot for migrants seeking asylum in El Paso, Texas. Migrants regularly cross this area, look for Border Patrol and surrender to US authorities
A dust storm blows through a migrant camp on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande as migrants wait to learn to fate of a new border law that could make it harder for them to enter through Texas
Migrants camp out along concertina wire on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande on the day the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals hears oral arguments on Texas’ motion to lift a block on its SB4 immigration law that would allow state officials to arrest migrants suspected of being in the country illegally
Migrants gather near concertina wire as they camp out on the U.S. side, pleading with Texas National Guard to give them access to the border wall so they can claim asylum
Hundreds were camping out in the no-mans land between north of the river that separates the US and Mexico, the Rio Grande.
The river is the international boundary, not the border wall.
Wednesday night, Texas National Guard rounded up hundreds of migrants and forced them south of the razor wire, which is still in US.
By Thursday morning, the migrants climbed over the wire fence in coordination and made a run for the border wall to presumably turn themselves in.