Hundreds of migrants in Mexico converged at a gate on the border in Del Rio, Texas, Monday morning, and tried to force their way into the United States as Border Patrol agents and law enforcement struggled to hold the line.
The violent confrontation began when US authorities, including state troopers, started admitting select migrant families through the gate and into the US. But soon, single adults and others not chosen attempted to force their way through the gate along with the families, making it hard for US officials to close the massive door behind each family.
Eight federal agents and police officers pushed back on the gate to prevent the hundreds of people on the Mexican side from pushing their way through. The majority of migrants attempting to get through the gate were men, according to a video recording posted to Twitter amid the commotion.
The clash is just the latest troubling event for the Biden administration, which has resisted calling the dramatic surge in migrants to the border a crisis.
President Biden in March named Vice President Kamala Harris to handle the problem and she has been repeatedly criticized over it, first for taking so long to finally visit the border itself and then for not stopping at the Rio Grande Valley, the epicenter of the migrant crisis, during her border visit last month.
The Border Patrol’s parent agency, Customs and Border Protection, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post about the incident or if it had been resolved.
The Del Rio region is located in south-central Texas, where Border Patrol agents responsible for arresting people who illegally enter the country between official crossing points are seeing mostly Haitians and Cubans attempting to enter, according to Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), whose district includes Del Rio.
Agents in Del Rio are encountering an average of 900 illegal immigrants daily, a high number for the region, one of nine areas into which the Border Patrol divides the 2,000-mile southern border.
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