A US Border Patrol agent illegally turned away a family of asylum seekers who had already made it to Texas, can exclusively reveal.
A family of six from Venezuela, including girls ages one and four, entered El Paso illegally from Mexico on Sunday morning.
Once on U.S. soil, the family made their way through the barbed wire, albeit with a crying baby as the barbed wire designed to prevent migrants from entering the country tore their clothing and flesh.
The mother was already standing on the north side of the barbed wire and the rest of the family was crawling in the loops of concertina wire when the border guard approached them.
The federal agent drove to the family and ordered them to return to Mexico, testified firsthand. The move is a violation of U.S. law and the agent's mandate with the Border Patrol.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent in El Paso, Texas, ordered a Venezuelan family of asylum seekers to return to Mexico on Sunday, reported. The move violates US law and border protection policy. Above you can see the family in the barbed wire. They were all on U.S. soil when the agent told them to return to Mexico
The aforementioned Venezuelan family of six illegally crossed into El Paso, Texas from Mexico by crossing the Rio Grande on Sunday morning. The river is the international border between the United States and Mexico in Texas
The Venezuelans sitting on the banks of the Rio Grande were already on U.S. soil when they were ordered back to Mexico by a U.S. Border Patrol agent
The federal agency requires officials to arrest any migrant who entered the country illegally.
“They should not turn people away, especially if they are already in U.S. territory,” Crystal Sandoval of the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Group told .
“It shouldn’t happen.”
The rejected family was just feet from an opening in the border wall where hundreds of other migrants who had entered the U.S. illegally were being detained by Border Patrol agents.
El Paso has recently seen a sharp increase in the number of migrants crossing the border. As many as 1,600 people came to West Texas in a single day.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of the U.S. border, asked for more time to comment on this story after we contacted them on Sunday.
Ultimately, the agency did not comment.
Before the South Americans crossed over to the US, the father told that he and his family planned to seek asylum in the US as he searched the river for a place with low water so he and his children could wade across.
A Venezuelan father with two young children, ages 1 and 4, walk along the banks of the Rio Grande in Mexico near El Paso on Sunday morning to wade across the international border into the United States. The man told that he and his relatives were applying for asylum
The man's wife and one-year-old daughter slipped while entering the river. The mother managed to regain her footing and get to the USA
Figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of the U.S. Border Patrol, show that at least 7.8 migrants entered the U.S. illegally in fiscal years 2021 to 2024
When migrants in Border Patrol custody tell officials they want to apply for asylum, U.S. and international law requires the migrant to be given the opportunity to do so.
“If they are asylum seekers, we should at least treat them humanely and give them a credible fear interview,” Sandoval added.
The legal requirements to detain illegal border crossers and allow asylum seekers to file refugee claims are one of the reasons the U.S. has seen historic numbers at the border since 2021, creating a border crisis.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, at least 7.8 million migrants have entered the U.S. illegally since 2021.
This does not include the additional 1 million migrants estimated to have entered the U.S. illegally in the last three months of 2023.
According to the United Nations, 7.7 million Venezuelans have left their homeland ruled by a dictator in recent years and sought refuge in other South American countries and the United States.
Members of the Texas National Guard drew their weapons as migrants already in the United States attempted to cross barbed wire near El Paso, Texas
Several migrants were ordered to return to Mexico by members of the Texas National Guard, the Chron reported on Sunday near El Paso, Texas
Texas National Guard members responded to a migrant sneaking over the barbed wire by erecting additional layers of fencing
After being rejected by Border Patrol, the Venezuelan father told they were ordered to return to Mexico.
“He told us to go back because we can't get in here,” the migrant shouted to from across the river.
The father frantically paced up and down the US riverbank, looking for somewhere else to get through the makeshift barrier, while his children sat in the barbed wire on the riverbank.
It is unknown whether they ultimately made it over the barbed wire.
The border guard's rejection of migrants was not the only one on Sunday morning.
Earlier in the day, members of the Texas National Guard also ordered several migrants back to Mexico.
A pregnant migrant crossing the United States to El Paso, Texas, said members of the Texas National Guard told her and her counterpart to return to Mexico even though they were already in the United States
Although they were turned away once on Sunday, they crossed the river into the United States a second time that same day
Several other migrants who had made it to the United States all gathered on the banks of the river that separates the United States from Mexico after a Border Patrol agent and Texas National Guard troops urged them to return to Mexico
A Venezuelan who also intended to apply for asylum tried to crawl through the fence but was confronted by a soldier who got out of his truck and pulled out a rifle.
When guards were questioned about his actions, they said, “I'm just doing my job. I'm here with the governor.”
The Texas Military Department did not respond to our request for comment.
The migrant made it over the barbed wire fence by placing discarded clothing on it and climbing over it while guards were distracted with another group of migrants.
Another group of migrants told us that they entered the United States but were told by a Texas guard to return to Mexico.
“We crossed the river and got the wires and then the soldier told us to go back,” a 19-year-old pregnant migrant who declined to give her name told .
A Venezuelan who was turned away by members of the Texas National Guard and sent back to Mexico ignored them and scaled the razor fence erected by Texas authorities
Members of the Texas National Guard removed clothing that allowed migrants to easily overcome barbed wire erected by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
It has previously been documented that members of the Texas National Guard who had no training in immigration law and were not authorized to enforce federal immigration laws turned away migrants.
These actions are being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice, although the state has denied that the guards violated any laws.
The DOJ has also threatened to sue the Lone Star State if it enforces a recently passed law, SB4.
The measure gives state officials in the state the ability to arrest illegal immigrants and send them back to Mexico.
The Texas National Guard is also responsible for building barbed wire at the border on behalf of Republican Governor Greg Abbott.
The barrier has been the subject of controversy and is currently at the center of a legal dispute.
Border Patrol agents have routinely cut the wire to give migrants a chance to surrender, particularly when the migrant's life or safety is at stake.
Governor Abbott demanded that federal agents stop cutting the wire and sued the federal government over it.
While a court initially ruled that the wire fence must be removed, a federal appeals court ruled two weeks ago that Border Patrol agents cannot destroy the barbed wire pending the outcome of the lawsuit, which is expected to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
It is questionable how effective the barrier has been in stopping migrants, as they typically use cardboard, clothing or blankets to climb over or crawl through the fence.