Dozens of illegal migrants were discovered hiding in the Rio Grande river as part of a disturbing new plan hatched by migrant smugglers.
Fifty-four people were found in the waters separating Mexico and Texas Tuesday after being told to hide there by traffickers in a bid to avoid Border Patrol interception.
While illegal immigrants have long crossed the river to get into the US, people usually try to spend as little time as possible in it, since its fast-flowing currents are notorious for drowning people.
This is the first time officials in the El Paso, Texas area have seen migrants actually instructed to stay in the water, using it as cover, until the coast is clear and the migrants can be picked up by a car to be taken further into the US.
‘This is the largest group we ever rescue from the river,’ Daniel Medrano of the Sunland Park Fire Department, one of several law enforcement agencies to respond, told KTSM.
Some of the migrants had been wading in the water for three hours.
‘Some of them were hiding around the bushes and also, some people were in the water,’ El Paso Fire Department spokesperson Enrique Duenas told KFOX.
The Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector, which includes El Paso and all of Southern New Mexico, is currently the third busiest in the nation, with only Tucson and San Diego having more encounters.
This part of the border has become increasingly deadly for migrants, many who are dropping dead of extreme heat.
In the month of May alone, 23,478 migrants were encountered by US officials in El Paso.
Nationwide, 241,022 migrants were stopped trying to enter illegally into the US.
At least 2.2 million migrants have pass through the US’ borders in fiscal year 2024, according to federal statistics.
First responders sent in 30 divers from different agencies to pluck the border crossers out of the river, since the threat of drowning was considered imminent.
Of the migrants were already showing signs of hypothermia, even in West Texas’ triple digit temperatures.
‘We did have about six (migrants) who were suffering from cold,’ Medrano explained. ‘They were in the water too long.’
Three migrants were hospitalized, but the rest were turned over to the Border Patrol to likely face deportation from the US.
Authorities in this region have constantly stressed that any safe passage that is promised to migrants by smugglers are bold, face lies.
‘I have a message for the migrants: Crossing illegally is against the law and it is dangerous,” Medrano stated.