A viral video posted on social media on March 21 shows hundreds of illegal immigrants attempting to enter the United States via the border near El Paso, Texas—rushing past a group of uniformed men who tried to hold them back.
The official union of the U.S. Border Patrol, which is administered by Border Patrol agents’ personal funds, reposted the video on X with harsh criticism of President Joe Biden.
In a statement to The Epoch Times, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) said around 11:00 a.m. local time, a “large group of migrants breached Texas National Guard concertina wire barricades located between the Rio Grande and the border wall in El Paso near Midway Drive and Loop 375.”
The agency said CBP agents took custody of the illegal immigrants at the adjacent border wall and transported them to a central processing station to be processed under Title 8, with “family groups and children” prioritized for processing and transport.
“There are consequences to crossing the border illegally, and CBP continues to enforce United States immigration laws,” the statement continued. “Individuals and families without a legal basis to remain in the U.S. are subject to removal, and are subject to a minimum five-year bar on reapplying for admission and potential criminal prosecution if they subsequently re-enter without authorization. No one should believe the lies of smugglers; individuals and families without a legal basis to remain in the United States will be removed.”
The agency added that as of 3:00 p.m. local time, all members of the group had been “moved from the site” and additional personnel have been deployed to the scene.
Biden in Texas Campaigning
The dramatics at the border contrast starkly with the president’s visit to Dallas the day before for a political fundraiser and his visit on March 21 to Houston for another.En route to Dallas on March 20, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre applauded a court decision earlier in the day that again paused Texas Senate Bill 4 from going into effect, hours after the Supreme Court denied an emergency application by the White House to block it.
“So, we’ve said from the beginning that SB 4 is an extreme, unconstitutional law that will burden law enforcement and make communities less safe,” she told reporters. “We disagreed with the Supreme Court order yesterday letting the law go into effect, and we welcome the Fifth Circuit overnight pausing implementation of it.”
She added there needed to be “resolutions” and it was up to the U.S. Congress to pass a bipartisan border security agreement immediately.
Immigration enforcement is typically thought of as an area of federal law enforcement, but Texas, at the height of the border crisis in December 2023, signed into law SB4, which made it a state crime to illegally cross the border.
In President Biden’s remarks at a fundraiser on the evening of March 20, he placed blame on issues at the southern border on former President Donald Trump.
“[Trump] is also bringing chaos to the American border,” President Biden said. “With a group of bipartisan senators we put together over a five-month period ... we agreed on the strongest border security law in American history.”
Thursday’s Border Rush
The video footage, first published by the New York Post, shows a group of men in uniform attempting to hold back hundreds of illegal immigrants attempting to rush through what appears to be a hole in a barbed wire fence.The video shows a large group make headway and eventually break through the group of uniformed men, which according to the Post were members of the Texas National Guard.
Whiplash in Courts Over Texas Border Policies
In recent days, attempts by the state of Texas to take some border enforcement into the state’s hands have been up in the air, as courts have issued conflicting rulings.The three-judge panel appeared somewhat divided during arguments from Texas Solicitor General Aaron Nielson, the Justice Department, and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Judge Irma Carillo Ramirez, an appointee of President Biden, didn’t speak, but Chief Judge Priscilla Richman seemed more skeptical of the Texas law than Judge Andrew Oldham.
Judge Oldham, an appointee of President Trump, dissented from a March 19 decision by Chief Judge Richman and Judge Ramirez to effectively block the law.
The hearing came one day after the Supreme Court denied an emergency application by the Biden administration to block the law. Hours later, the appellate court reinstated the hold on Texas’s law.
“This is the first time, it seems to me, that a state has claimed that they have the right to remove illegal aliens,” Chief Judge Richman, an appointee of President George W. Bush, told Mr. Nielson. “I mean, this is not a power that historically has been exercised by states, has it?”
The Supreme Court notably blocked part of Arizona’s immigration law in 2012, noting that provisions interfered with federal authority. That decision was cited by the Justice Department during oral arguments on March 20.
