RECORD: 771 Migrants Apprehended at Texas Border on Day After Trump’s Visit

Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector reported a new daily record for the number of migrants apprehended after illegally crossing in 2019. The record comes one day after President Donald Trump’s visit to the South Texas border region.

Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Sector agents reported the apprehension of a record-setting 771 migrants on Friday after President Trump visited the area one day earlier. The apprehensions mark a record-setting day from the sector and eclipsed the 456 apprehensions from the day before his visit.

“771 apprehensions in a single day is a glaring indicator of the need for additional border security resources in South Texas,” RGV Acting Chief Patrol Agent Raul Ortiz said in a written statement. “Friday’s numbers support the President’s assertion that the current state of the border remains porous. There is currently not enough infrastructure to adequately address the hundreds of illegals who cross here every night.”

Ortiz recently succeeded Chief Patrol Agent Manuel Padilla, who received a promotion late last year to head the Joint Task Force-West in San Antonio.

Chief Ortiz briefed the president during his visit to the sector on January 10 on the need for additional fencing/walls in the region. In November and December 2018, the Trump administration awarded at least three contracts to build new barriers, add permanent gates between current fencing segments, and upgrade existing barrier infrastructure.

The RGV Sector is continuously the most active sector for the apprehension of migrants who cross the border — often accounting for more than 60 percent of total border apprehensions. A very large percentage of those apprehensions are unaccompanied minors and family units, according to the latest Southwest Border Migration Report published by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

On the day before Trump’s visit to the region, agents apprehended 456 migrants and on the day of the president’s visit, 391. RGV officials reported an average of about 400 per day in the days leading up to the presidential visit.