Mexican authorities on Wednesday plan to shut down a makeshift facility housing over 1,600 Central American migrants.
Matthew Hudak is acting chief patrol agent for the Del Rio Sector. He says Mexican authorities are trying to disband the large group by bussing some to other border towns hundreds of miles away.
“Governor of Mexico has offered humanitarian visa to some of those people to remain in Mexico and there's some parts of that group that have actually taken steps to return to their countries,” he says.
Hudak says others have started slipping across the U.S. border.
“We've identified a little less than 200 people that are claiming to be part of that group, but we know for the last several days our arrests have been three-to-four times their normal rate,” he says.
He says the Del Rio sector has already made over 10,000 apprehensions since the fiscal year began in October, many of whom are family units that Border Patrol is simply unprepared to handle.
“That's going to vary day-to-day, anywhere from 50 to over 200.”