(San Antonio, TX) -- The Border Patrol is reporting that hundreds of Bangladeshi nationals crossed the Rio Grande this year. Only one was reported in fiscal 2017, followed by a spike of 668 in 2018. The Bangladeshis are mostly adult men aged 18 to 35. Instead of running from Border Patrol agents, they give themselves up and ask for asylum.
A Homeland Security agent says international alien smuggling networks are at work. He says a Bangladeshi national faces 16 charges of using a Monterrey hotel as a stash house and paying drivers to take the Bangladeshis to the U.S. border.