By Juan Mendoza Diaz, Chris Nesi and Jennie Taer
EAGLE PASS, Texas — The group of migrant women with three young kids in tow slowly trudged their way into the US across a shallow stretch of the Rio Grande led by a one-armed coyote smuggler, braving a treacherous route and fleeing cartel checkpoints along the way.
They put it all on the line because they knew the Trump administration — and its no-nonsense new border czar — would soon be in charge at the border.
“It’s a risk,” one of the women from Venezuela told The Post moments after slipping into the country and into the waiting arms of Border Patrol agents.
“Because many of us enter due to necessity or because we’re politically persecuted, or problems of violence in our country.”
The woman, wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt, said she believed that the former president would be re-elected, so she and others in her group rushed to make it over the border — knowing their time with absentee border czar Vice President Kamala Harris in charge was running out.
Asked if she thinks she’ll be deported once President-elect Trump is in office, she grimly acknowledged, “it could happen,” and admitted his return to the White House is what sped up their timetable for entering the country.
She said she had spent five months in Mexico City trying unsuccessfully to get an appointment with CBP One — a Biden-Harris administration app designed to allow asylum seekers a legal pathway into America which has been exploited by criminal migrants and gang members.
“I never got an appointment … and decided to risk crossing and see what happens,” she said.
Days after the election, officials on both sides of the US southern border are gearing up for a last-minute mad dash of thousands of migrants before Trump takes office officials said.
An average of 300 migrants are still flooding in illegally every day into Eagle Pass — and although foot traffic has slowed considerably since the peak — down some 86%, officials say — the Lone Star State is still preparing for the possibility of “mass” crossings before control of the borders changes hands.
“People know the window is going to close so I think the crap is going to hit the fan in December and January,” said one Border Patrol source, noting that agents are getting “hit hard” by smugglers bringing migrants across on dirt bikes.
“We’re waiting to get those last minute groups getting across the border before Trump gets in. It’s picking up already,” said another border official.
The current garrison includes immigration officials from Mexico and the US, who have assembled on both sides of the border in the area of Eagle Pass — a main artery for migrants entering the US under the Biden administration’s lackadaisical enforcement policies.
Texas Department of Public Safety Lieutenant Chris Olivarez told The Post that smugglers in Mexico have been directing groups of illegal migrants to cross into areas where state troopers don’t have the authority to make arrests.
“Those groups are crossing into areas where the majority is federal land, meaning that that’s where Border Patrol is working much more,” said Olivarez.
“So these groups are looking for Border Patrol agents. They don’t want to encounter a DPS trooper or National Guard soldier because they know they’re not gonna let them cross.”
Border Patrol, on the other hand, will follow current Biden admin policy and take them for screening. Since the group witnessed by The Post arrived as a family unit, they will likely be released into the US with dates to appear in immigration court.
These days, more migrants are trying to evade law enforcement and are increasingly trespassing onto private ranches — and a new presidential administration could be the reason why that’s picking up, said Olivarez.
“Now they’re starting to realize that it’s much more difficult now to enter not only in Texas, but also because of some of the consequences and some of the rhetoric from the new administration,” he explained.
On the other side of the border, Mexican Immigration and the Mexican National Guard were seen patrolling the area north of International Bridge — another main thoroughfare for migrants crossing illegally.
One US border agent told The Post that Piedras Negras — a stone’s throw from Eagle Pass — is seeing up to 30 migrants per day for appointments made via CBP One.
Law enforcement in the border zone spoke highly of both President-elect Trump and incoming border czar Tom Homan, who have promised mass deportations of migrants are in the cards.
“[Trump] is coming with a new star. I’m glad that [Homan] is what went up the chain of command. He used to work on Border Patrol. I’m glad that he knows the immigration laws and he knows all the things that need to be done for deportations,” Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber told The Post.
He questioned the logic behind the current administration letting millions of migrants stream across the border with seemingly little regard for where they end up or how they get there.
“There’s a lot of people here that came in just all at once. We don’t know what’s here, people that don’t have any skills, no education, nothing like that. It’s a burden to the government. It’s a burden to the government because who’s paying for all this stuff?”
Schmerber said that while county law enforcement is ready and willing to help the new administration, a dearth of resources limits their ability to put a significant dent in the problem.
“We’re running the border and we have people coming here from the other side, with drugs and criminals, so I have to take care of the security of the county … we work with the DEA, we work with the other federal agencies as much as we can, but it’s not a full time job,” he shared.
“It’s just whenever we have the opportunity to work with them, but we don’t have the manpower, and we don’t have the technology, the computers and so forth. We’re here to help, but we cannot take over a job, especially with immigration. My employees are not familiar with the laws or anything like that.”
