Quasi travel agencies are helping migrants reach the U.S.-Mexico border and in the process are also helping to push the current crisis toward a "breaking point," CNN has reported.
CBP statistics show that agents encountered 240,988 people at the border in October. That followed a 2023 fiscal year total of almost 2.5 million encounters.
A record 12,600 migrants were encountered by CBP officers in 24 hours Monday, the New York Post reported.
Current and former Homeland Security (DHS) officials told CNN the migrant crisis is nearing a "breaking point."
"We could have — and we could sustain — a couple days at 12,000 encounters,” a former DHS official told CNN.
"But the reality is that a sustained flow of 12,000 to 14,000 is what we determined would buckle the system. Anything beyond that started a significant strain of resources and detention. Ultimately, we knew we were surpassing the capabilities of DHS. It will break."
Organized transportation networks are advertising travel to the border, then connecting migrants with smugglers, CNN reported Wednesday.
Smugglers are facilitating the illegal crossing of 500 to 1,000 people at a time, the official told CNN.
"These smugglers are recklessly putting migrants into harm’s way: in remote locations across the border, onto the tops of trains, or into the waters of the Rio Grande River," Troy A. Miller, U.S. Custom and Border Protection’s senior official performing the duties of the commissioner, said in a statement.
The official added that phony travel agencies in cities such as Senegal’s capital Dakar advertise visa-free travel to Europe and then to the U.S.
The groups offer connection to smuggling organizations that facilitate movement to the southern border with the help of large bus lines in Mexico’s northern state of Sonora.
U.S. Border Patrol earlier this month announced an effort to crack down on smuggling transportation networks, including "bus and van lines."
"The measures include specific law enforcement operations focused on transportation companies and their employees who are facilitating migrant smuggling activities," Miller said in a Dec. 2 statement.
The efforts by international travel and smuggling groups have overwhelmed CBP and forced the suspension of operations at crossings in San Ysidro, California; Lukeville, Arizona; and El Paso and Eagle Pass, Texas.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the closures have also affected international commerce. The National Grain and Feed Association called for the crossings to be reopened because the closings are affecting the flow of grains and oilseeds to "one of the United States’ most important export markets and trading partners."