Massive Migrant Group of Hundreds Met by Agents at Texas Border Wall

Photos and videos on Monday morning showed a group of hundreds of migrants being met by the National Guard and U.S. Border Patrol agents after arriving at a border gate in Del Rio, Texas.

According to a report from Fox News, some 300-400 migrants, mostly coming from Haiti, were seen arriving at the gate with the hopes of entering the United States. The migrants were reportedly met by state troopers from Nebraska, Florida, and Texas, along with members of the National Guard and Border Patrol.

It was not immediately clear what would happen to the group on Monday, with reports that border patrol processing centers have already reached capacity in the area and would not be able to process hundreds of new people.

"Troopers tell me Border Patrol is completely overrun and their processing centers are all over capacity & they can't handle a group this size. Concerns the group may have to wait in the blistering heat," Fox News' Bill Melguin tweeted Monday.

Video footage showed a somewhat chaotic scene as migrants lined up at the gate, while some adult men tried to push their way through.

Newsweek contacted Customs and Border Protection for additional comment.

Del Rio has seen an influx of migrants over the past several weeks. According to KENS5, the area has recently seen over 1,000 migrants a day and is now ranked second for the highest number of migrant encounters along the southwest border, with most coming from Mexico.

Del Rio Border Patrol Sector Chief Austin Skero told the news outlet that on many days, there are only 12 agents patrolling over 240 miles of border, as most agents are busy processing the large numbers of new migrants.

"If you have undocumented migrants on your land, call us, we'll get there," said Skero. "I just can't guarantee right now how fast we're going to get there."

On Saturday, Texas Governor Gregg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – two Republican leaders and allies of former President Donald Trump – discussed immigration issues at the Del Rio International Airport and largely blamed the issue on the Biden administration.

"Why is this happening? This is happening because of the massive change in policies by the Biden administration," Abbott said Saturday, according to Nexstar.

"Where the Trump administration had in place policies that were working and led to a dramatic decrease in the number of people coming across the border. Those policies were abandoned and in their place," he said, while claiming that the Biden administration encourages open border policies.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection numbers released Friday, the agency recorded 188,829 encounters along the Mexican border last month, marking an increase of about 5 percent from May.

The majority of encounters were single adults, though encounters of unaccompanied children increased by 8 percent in June. However, that number fell well below the high of 18,663 unaccompanied children encountered by Border Patrol in March, NBC DFW reported.

During a visit to the border last month, Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated the need to address the root causes of undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers coming to the southwestern border from Central America.

"I want to be very clear that the problem at the border, in large part if not entirely, stems from the problems in these countries," she said in June. "I cannot say it enough. Most people don't want to leave home, and when they do, it is usually for one of two reasons: either they are fleeing harm or to stay home means that they cannot satisfy the basic needs to sustain and take care of their families."

Most of the hundreds of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers arriving at the border come from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. They are largely fleeing endemic violence, widespread poverty and the growing impacts of climate change.

However, the Biden administration is now preparing for a possible influx of Haitian migrants as thousands have been displaced amid escalating violence and political unrest following the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse's assassination on July 7.

While the administration will soon allow more than 100,000 Haitians who arrived in the US before May 21, 2021, to apply for Temporary Protected Status, Biden has discouraged others from fleeing the country due to growing political unrest.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned that anyone attempting to arrive from Haiti by boat will be intercepted by the Coast Guard, and will not be permitted to enter the country.

"The time is never right to attempt migration by sea," he said on July 13. "To those who risk their lives doing so, this risk is not worth taking. Allow me to be clear: if you take to the sea, you will not come to the United States," he said.