Illegal immigrants have been spotted popping out of manholes in downtown El Paso, crawling out of the sewer system to enter the country illegally, according to local reports.
Residents who live near downtown El Paso have been witnessing migrants escaping manhole for weeks now, sometimes in groups as large as 30.
A group of six illegal immigrants were spotted Wednesday night just north of the border wall by a KVIA-TV news crew after having enetered the US water system via openings at the Rio Grande river, which serves as the border marker.
“They are not using the river anymore, they are using the water tunnels to come in,” local resident Rosalina Tapia told the TV station in October.
After climbing onto the street, Tapia said she’s seen smugglers waiting for the migrants, ready to take them further into the country.
“They are telling them to hide behind our back door and hide. While they are hiding, the guy calls someone in English or Spanish to come pick them up,” said Tapia.
Tapia told the station she is looking to buy a gun because she fears for her safety as smugglers have attempted to get inside parked cars to make a quick getaway.
“It’s like an all-day, all-night thing,” Tapia explained. “(Smugglers) picked our complex as a pick-up zone.”
The City of El Paso said it’s aware of migrants using the city’s sewer system to enter the country illegally.
El Paso resident Rosalinda Tapia photographed men climbing out of a manhole near her home.
KVIA
“We’re in communication daily with our Customs and Border Patrol partners so they can increase patrols in that area because people are coming through, and we want to make sure they are getting census so they know who is entering,” said El Paso Deputy City Manager Mario D’Agostino in a press conference Thursday.
Another disturbing recent video showed illegal immigrants running jumping over the border wall in El Paso and running into traffic on the highway.
El Paso Deputy City Manager Mario D’Agostino said the city is working with the US Border Patrol to secure the city’s sewer tunnel system.
Go Nakamura for New York Post
The sixth largest city in Texas is currently the epicenter of the border crisis, with more migrants entering the country through the west city than anywhere else in the country, Border Patrol statistics show.
Border Patrol is currently seeing around 2,400 migrants a day try to cross into in El Paso. That number is expected to climb as high as 5,000 when Title 42 expires.
Title 42 is a Trump-era COVID-19 policy that allows the Border Patrol to automatically expel about 40% of all migrants who enter the country illegally, but a federal court ordered the government to stop using it by Dec. 21.
El Paso has also seen an increase in illegal immigrants hopping over the border wall and running into highway traffic, leading to at least four migrant deaths, police told The Post.
Sunday, a giant group of over 1,500 migrants crossed the border into El Paso and lining up to turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents. That group was made up of mostly Nicaraguan asylum seekers who seek out border officials in order to make a legal asylum claim.
Migrants from other countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico do not often qualify for asylum and often usually turn to smugglers and more dangerous ways of entering the country.
The US Border Patrol did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
* Article from: The New York Post
