BROWNSVILLE, Texas—A U.S. Border Patrol agent in Texas is credited with saving an illegal immigrant woman and her young son who were attacked and covered by thousands of bees.
The agency said in a statement Friday that the agent was patrolling the Rio Grande in Brownsville, in southernmost Texas, when bees entered his patrol vehicle.
The agent was looking for the origin of the bees Tuesday when he found what he thought was just a bundle of clothing covered in the insects. He then realized it was a woman curled into a ball.
He ordered her to run into his vehicle and discovered she was covering her 8-year-old boy.
The child began to vomit and the agent rushed the pair to a hospital, where they’re expected to recover.
Border Patrol Rescue Five Migrants From Snowy Mountains
In a similar incident earlier this year, Border Patrol agents, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, Department of Public Safety, and an Air and Marine Operation aircrew rescued five migrants on a snow-covered mountain south of Tucson.On March 13, Tucson Sector Border Patrol received a 911 phone call from a helpless man along with four other individuals on the Santa Rita Mountains.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office and rescue teams were also called out around 1:00 a.m. the next day.
All rescue groups had to delay rescue due to harsh weather conditions.
Five men; three Honduran and two Mexican illegal aliens were in distress and injured from freezing temperatures.
Agents arranged a helicopter to lift the men to secure ground.
Green Valley Fire District took then took them to a local hospital.
After the men are medically treated and discharged they will be processed for immigration violations.
Border Arrests of Migrants Hits Another Record
Border officers apprehended more than 132,000 people illegally crossing the southern border in May, the U.S. government said on June 5, an increase over the previous month and the most in more than a decade. Officials said illegal crossings had reached were “crisis” levels.“Our nation is experiencing an unprecedented border security and humanitarian crisis on the southwest border, both at and between our ports of entry,” Randy Howe, the executive director for operations, Office of Field Operations at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), told reporters on a call. He said that on June 4 alone, CBP apprehended more than 4,100 individuals and had 19,293 people in custody. “We are bursting at the seams. It is unsustainable,” Howe said.
Border agents apprehended 132,887 people at the southwest border in May, according to CBP data, a nearly 34 percent increase from April. If trends continue over the next few months, apprehensions for the 2019 fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, will be the highest in 13 years, said Brian Hastings, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol.
More than 63 percent of those apprehended were children and people traveling as families.
Border officials deemed a further 11,391 people “inadmissible;” up 12 percent from the previous month. That category includes people who present themselves for legal admission at a port of entry but are turned away, and people who seek asylum at ports of entry.
The migrant arrivals, which have been building over the past several months, are mostly individuals who surrender to border officials and request asylum in the United States.
Most families are released to pursue their asylum claims in U.S. immigration courts because of limits on how long children can be held in detention. The pursuit of such claims can take years because of ballooning court backlogs, and most fail to appear in court.
