Footage from the Texas Department of Public Safety captures migrants breaching federal border walls at two locations along the state’s Mexico border. In El Paso, migrants became confrontational with Border Patrol agents, while in McAllen, smugglers employed a ladder to scale a border wall.
A West Texas DPS helicopter crew, part of Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, provided aerial support for El Paso Sector Border Patrol agents as a group of migrants used a rope ladder to scale the border wall near the Santa Teresa Port of Entry.
As agents approached, the migrants began throwing rocks, sand, and water bottles at them. Agents swiftly apprehended the migrants.
At the opposite end of the Texas border, in McAllen, DPS troopers using drone technology identified a human smuggler transporting a ladder across the Rio Grande. The group used the ladder to scale the border wall in the Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol sector.
#WATCH: @TxDPS Drone captures a smuggling guide from Mexico guiding a group of illegal immigrants across the Rio Grande in a raft carrying a ladder. The group then attempts to scale the border wall in McAllen #RGV but is quickly intercepted by DPS Troopers & @TXMilitary.
The… pic.twitter.com/qOh0vpUOcG
— Chris Olivarez (@LtChrisOlivarez) May 23, 2024
Olivarez mentioned that DPS currently operates over 300 drones statewide. With more than 320 certified drone pilots, the DPS has conducted over 71,000 border-related flights, accumulating nearly 20,000 flight hours.
