A group of migrants were caught trying to break into a woman’s ranch home in Texas before breaking into their neighbor’s home just 50 miles across the US-Mexico border.
Shocking security footage shared by Fox News’ Bill Melugin shows the moment the group of immigrants began kicking the door of the Edwards County home.
As members of the group try unsuccessfully to pry open the windows, one of them grabs what appears to be a 2×4 wooden plank and starts banging it against the door.
It would not budge, however, as the homeowner had locked her front door’s deadbolt on its steel frame.
The woman told Melugin that after failing to get into her home, which she had spent $13,000 to modernize after previous interruptions, they successfully entered her neighbor’s home but fled when border police answered.
The tense situation comes as waves of migrants continue to arrive at the border and a gaping hole has been discovered along the wall near El Paso through which asylum seekers can sneak.
NEW: Security video earlier this month shows a group of suspected illegal immigrants attempting to break into a ranch home in Edwards County, TX. The house is about 50 miles inland from the border. The owner tells me this has happened before and she spent $13,000 to improve security. pic.twitter.com/K17osyXbt7
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) December 28, 2022
Migrants near the Texas border were caught on camera earlier this month attempting to break into a woman’s ranch home
When they couldn’t kick the door down, one of the immigrants grabbed a 2×4 and started slamming it against the door. However, the homeowner had spent $13,000 upgrading the home to withstand the new disruption in trials
Border patrol officials on the United States’ southern border recorded 233,740 illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico in November — a 33 percent increase from 2021
As thousands of migrants made their way to and through the border this year fearing the end of Title 42, Texas has seen an influx of migrants killing local pets, stealing from stores and knocking on doors late at night.
A resident of Eagle Pass said she has now taught her children to use tasers and other weapons to defend her family business.
“It’s something that had to be done because we don’t know what can happen,” Laura Ramos told Fox News. “We don’t know these people or where they come from.”
Another resident said his youngest sister heard a knock on her bedroom window late at night.
“It’s pretty scary,” he said. “We’re getting used to it because unfortunately nothing is really being done.”
One Eagle Pass business owner said she is now closing her shop at 7 p.m. because she has an all-women staff.
“We’re closing at seven now because it’s getting dark, people are walking around, all girls, you never know,” she said.
She added that she now keeps “multiple guns” in the store to defend her employees.
Many are believed to have come to the border because of the announcement that Title 42 is being canned – making it easier for people to stay in the US after crossing.
Border Patrol agents on the southern border detained 233,740 illegal immigrants from Mexico last month.
The figure is the highest number of illegal border crossings ever recorded in November.
Pictured: A group of migrants arriving at the fences along the Rio Grande as the US copes with the growing influx of immigrants
In an aerial view, Texas National Guard troops on December 20 prevent migrants from entering a busy border crossing area along the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas
Migrants eat and wait for help while camping on a street in downtown El Paso, Texas on December 27
A gaping hole cut in the Mexico-US border fence reveals the ease with which migrants can cross the border illegally — despite the strict rules of Title 42
Amid the chaos at the border, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in a last-minute ruling to maintain Title 42 until 2023. The decision leaves thousands of migrants who must now attempt to cross the border and face the prospect of near-immediate deportation – or risk entering the country illegally.
Justice Neil Gorsuch joined the more liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson to vote against the retention.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesman said: “As required by today’s Supreme Court order, Public Health Order Title 42 remains in effect and persons attempting to enter the United States unlawfully will continue to be deported to Mexico or their home country.
“People shouldn’t listen to the lies of smugglers who take advantage of vulnerable migrants and put lives at risk. The border is not open and we will continue to fully enforce our immigration laws.
“We will continue to manage the border, but we are doing so within the confines of a decades-old immigration system that everyone agrees is broken. We need Congress to pass the sweeping immigration reform bill that President Biden proposed the day he took office.
States led by Republican attorneys general of Arizona and Louisiana filed an emergency motion last week after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied their request to intervene in the case to argue toward its end.
The massive facility for migrants, being built on the outskirts of El Paso, Texas as Title 42, was scheduled to close as early as midnight Tuesday
Migrants gathered on buses December 26 to leave El Paso, Texas
A massive “tent city” for migrants entering the US from Mexico is under construction on the outskirts of El Paso as officials scramble to prepare for a spike in crossings.
The massive processing facility, covering an area the size of several football fields, will be built in a patch of desert about 20 miles northeast of downtown El Paso.
Trucks with equipment and machines have regularly delivered to the construction site in recent days.
Security forces told the facility could be operational for “a couple of weeks or six months, we don’t know” – and it won’t be operational until around January 10.
Workers Tuesday morning completed the soft-sided main tent, which stretches the length of about two football pitches. Other tents were also built around the main building.
The speed and scale of the operation demonstrate the massive steps Border Patrol agencies are taking to prevent chaos when Title 42 finally ends.
Some more of the systems could also be built around El Paso in the coming days and weeks.
The shelters would serve as much-needed relief for Texas facilities, which have already been marginalized as Republicans and Democrats bickered over the recent bus ride of migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’ home.
A bus carrying migrants from Texas arrived in front of Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence in Washington, DC on Saturday, Christmas Eve, and said at least once that he was “happy to be here”.
Gov. Greg Abbott is believed to be behind three busloads of migrants who arrived in front of VP Harris’ DC residence on Christmas Eve
Three busloads of migrants from the US-Mexico border were dropped off at One Naval Observatory on Christmas Eve in 14 degrees, many of them wearing only T-shirts. Some were given blankets and put on another bus to a local church.
Deputy White House Press Secretary Abdullah Hasan condemned Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott’s action, saying, “Governor Abbott left children by the side of the road in freezing temperatures on Christmas Eve without coordinating with federal or local authorities.”
“It was a cruel, dangerous and shameful stunt.”
“These political games are futile and just endangering lives,” Hasan said, saying the Biden administration is “ready to work with anyone — Republican or Democrat — on real solutions.”
Democratic MP Joaquin Castro did not mince his words when he called his home state’s governor a “heartless POS”.
“I guess we know how Greg Abbott, a ‘practicing’ Catholic, would have treated Jesus, Mary & Joseph,” interjected Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif.
Abbott’s office, however, hit back at the criticism, calling the Biden administration a hypocrite.
Renae Eze, a spokeswoman for Abbott, has repeatedly insisted that migrants voluntarily chose to be transported to destinations listed on a waiver they voluntarily signed upon boarding.
“The Biden administration has flown migrants across the country, often under cover of night, or dumped migrants in Texas border communities already overwhelmed and overwhelmed by the historic influx of illegal immigration,” Eze told of Biden’s hypocrisy.