A U.S. Border Patrol agent shows an incomplete section of the new steel bollard-style border wall on a hillside along the U.S.-Mexico border between San Diego and Tijuana, during a tour with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection on May 10, 2021 in the Otay Mesa area of San Diego County, California.(PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 7:37 AM PT – Sunday, August 1, 2021
Customs and Border Protection said they’ve accounted for nearly 190,000 migrants attempting to illegally cross the southwest border in June. CBP officials said they’ve seen a high number of distress from migrants abandoned by smugglers with no regard for human life amid intense heat.
According to officials, the migrants are not warned of the tough conditions they will be forced to battle along their journey.
“It is a very desolate land, a very arduous land, a land that is very hard to cross. It presents a lot of risks,” said CBP spokesperson Carlos Rivera. “The temperature, it’s hard to cross this land. They can suffer dehydration. They don’t tell them how many days they could be in the desert either.”
CBP agents are ordered to do everything they can to rescue lost or distressed migrants, utilizing all terrain vehicles, motorcycles and helicopters. However, officials said the bottom line is the terrain along the border is extreme and the summer heat is severe. They also mentioned the miles of desert migrants must hike after crossing the border is unforgiving.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent patrols on an all-terrain vehicle where the border wall ends in the Pacific Ocean along the U.S.-Mexico border between San Diego and Tijuana. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
This comes as CBP counted nearly 189,000 migrants attempting to cross the border in June alone, which is a five percent increase than seen in May. Preliminary figures also indicate more than one million illegal crossings have been attempted in 2021 so far.
Critics have argued the Biden administration’s drawback on border policies imposed during the Trump-era has fueled the surge in migrant crossings. In the meantime, CBP agents have continued to warn migrants of the gruesome heat.
