A group of migrants was captured on camera scaling a border barrier using a rope ladder before being stopped by border patrol agents.
The video was taken by KVIA ABC-7 reporters who were at the border in South El Paso, Texas. The incident occurred at around 6:30 p.m. on April 30 near the Border Highway and Fonseca.
Group of migrants use rope ladder to scale border barrier
BORDER BATTLE: New video from ABC News El Paso affiliate KVIA shows a group of migrants using a rope ladder to scale a border barrier before they were reportedly confronted on the U.S. side; the Trump administration said today they are requesting $4.5 billion in emergency spending after more than 100,000 migrants arrived in March. https://abcn.ws/2J89rvB
Posted by ABC World News Tonight with David Muir on Wednesday, May 1, 2019
The footage shows at least seven migrants, including a woman, using the ladder to climb the barrier into the United States.
According to the news broadcaster, soon after the illegal aliens made it onto U.S. soil, Border Patrol agents pulled up at the scene and activated its lights and sirens, telling the migrants to stop.
The illegal aliens were then seen climbing the border barrier again in an attempt to return to the area south of the border.
This video comes months after the Customs and Border Protection in Arizona posted a video of a group of over 110 Central Americans illegally scaling the wall at the Yuma sector border with the help of a smuggler and a ladder.
On Monday #CBP #YumaSector Border Patrol agents apprehended a group of 110+ Central Americans who illegally scaled the wall with the assistance of a smuggler with a ladder #NationalSecurity #SouthwestBorder pic.twitter.com/T19JzI3xeC
— CBP Arizona (@CBPArizona) January 23, 2019
It is unclear whether any of the people who scaled the wall on April 30 was a smuggler.
The El Paso Sector, which covers some 270 border miles in westernmost Texas and the whole stretch along New Mexico’s southern border, has seen a significant surge in illegal crossings. The amount of border patrol apprehensions in this sector rose six times higher in the first five months of fiscal 2019 (starting in October) than in the same period a year earlier.
On April 30, agents apprehended several large groups, comprising of primarily of Central American families and unaccompanied juveniles.
The agents encountered one of the groups in Sunland Park just after midnight with over 400 illegal aliens. They encountered the second group of 230 illegal aliens around 2 a.m. at the Antelope Wells Port of Entry.
#CBP U.S. Border Patrol agents in New Mexico apprehend more than 650 illegal aliens in two large groups this morning. https://t.co/fKN0yQYADG pic.twitter.com/rjutmOYgQx
— CBP West Texas (@CBPWestTexas) April 30, 2019
“This is an ongoing situation that U.S Border Patrol agents are facing in southern New Mexico: hundreds of parents and children being encountered by agents after having faced a dangerous journey in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers,” CBP said in their statement.
“Criminal organizations continue to exploit innocent human lives in order to enhance their illicit activities without due regard to the risks of human life. In most cases these smugglers never cross the border themselves in order to avoid apprehension,” they added.
CBP said for the first half of the 2019 fiscal year, agents arrested over 385,000 individuals at the southwest border, which is more than double the apprehension during the same period last fiscal year.
