Border Patrol agents in the U.S.-Mexico border apprehended more than 10,000 undocumented migrants in a 48 hour period this week, the agency’s chief said on Wednesday.
In a Twitter post, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz showed several figures of encounters that had taken place in only two days. Border Patrol agents made around 10,070 apprehensions, which included five sex offenders, four individuals with warrants, and one gang member.
Additionally, Border Patrol agents seized 52 fentanyl, 38 pounds of ecstasy, 11 pounds of meth, 11 pounds of cocaine, $48,000, 20 firearms, and 5 stolen vehicles.
Two days earlier, agents at the U.S.-Mexico border also encountered a large number of undocumented migrants. On Monday, Ortiz posted a similar tweet saying that border patrol agents had apprehended 13,588 migrants in 72 hours.
Preliminary data shows that almost 245,000 undocumented foreign nationals were apprehended at the southwest border in March alone. The figure represents a significant increase from the number of migrants that were apprehended at the border in February and January, which saw 205,032 and 215,998 apprehensions respectively.
Agents have also encountered several large groups of migrants, many of which contained more than 100 individuals.
On Monday, agents at the Del Rio Sector, along with local first respondents, reduced a group of 140 migrants that had become stranded on a small island on the Rio Grande.
In El Paso, agents discovered two stash houses holding more than 146 migrants last weekend. The migrants were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, according to authorities. They were processed accordingly by the agency.
Border Patrol agents have discovered more than 130 stash houses holding over 1,800 migrants in the El Paso area so far this fiscal year, which began in October, according to official reports.
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