In less than 48 hours, U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended 307 migrants suspected to have entered the U.S. illegally.
The latest apprehensions occurred Thursday and Wednesday when federal agents apprehended two immigrant groups totaling 297 people near La Grulla, according to a Border Patrol statement.
The group consisted of 140 single adults, 106 family unit members and 51 unaccompanied children. The migrants were from Cuba, South and Central America.
On Wednesday evening, agents attempted to conduct an immigration inspection of individuals in a Cadillac SUV near Norias. The SUV failed to stop for the agents and led the agents and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers on a vehicle pursuit, according to the media release.
The SUV came to a stop near Raymondville, and the people in the vehicle bailed out. Grass underneath the SUV caught fire as did the Cadillac. The Raymondville Fire Department responded to the scene and extinguished the fire, according to the Border Patrol statement.
State troopers arrested the driver of the SUV, who was a U.S. citizen, and the agents apprehended three Honduran immigrants who were hiding a brushy area.
Also on Wednesday, federal border agents, along with the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office Operation Stonegarden units, conducted a stop on a Ford Expedition suspected of human smuggling in Mission. The people in the vehicle were arrested as well as two others found at a migrant stash house. All the individuals were from Mexico, according to the media release.
A vehicle pursuit Wednesday morning near Palmview led to the arrest of three migrants from Guatemala and one from Ecuador.
Near Port Mansfield, three migrants and three U.S. citizens were rescued from a small boat more than a mile offshore.
The release stated Harlingen agents responded to the call for assistance from the Port Mansfield Police Department concerning six people who had been rescued from the vessel. They were all interviewed at it was determined three were in the U.S. illegally.
The migrants in all cases were processed accordingly, Border Patrol said.
