FOX 7 rides with U.S. Border Patrol to see what struggles they face

During the month of September, authorities arrested two undocumented immigrants in the Austin area for crimes including murder, aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping. Both of them had previously been deported more than twice. We wanted to see how it was possible for them to enter the United States illegally so many times, so we rode with the Rio Grande valley sector border patrol to find out. Border patrol agents must secure 1,254 miles in Texas every single day. “McAllen station is actually the busiest station in the whole country for illegal entries,” said Supervisor Border Patrol Agent Marlene Castro. During fiscal year 2016, which ended September 30, border patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley sector apprehended about 500 undocumented immigrants per day. “It's been a group, and then five minutes later another group, and then half an hour later you'll see another one,” Castro said. A lot of families coming from Central America are paying smugglers in Mexico to help them get across the Rio Grande River on a raft, but families said they're not coming to the U.S. to hide from border patrol. In fact, they want to get caught It's about a five minute hike through heavy brush from the road to the riverbank. Trails, formed by the thousands of people coming through each week, make the trip easy to navigate. “The smuggler usually brings the raft up. He'll be sitting there with a raft and people are gathering and as soon as he has enough people, he'll bring them across, go back, wait for another group, and bring them across,” said Castro. Most of the unaccompanied children and families are traveling from Honduras which has one of the highest murder rates in the world. Because they are seeking asylum, they walk right up to federal authorities and willingly pack into transport vehicles...more