RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas (NewsNation) — A new makeshift military installation along the U.S.-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley allows officials and military service members to arrest migrants and charge them with “criminal trespass on a military installation.”
More than 100 individuals have already been arrested and charged between the El Paso and New Mexico areas. Border Patrol agents who spoke with NewsNation say the manpower of an additional installation will help them discourage illegal crossings.
“That’s how they (drug cartels) make their money. That’s how they make their living, and they don’t like to see a show of force,” said Border Patrol agent Christina Smallwood. “So absolutely, that would benefit the United States Border Patrol. That is something that we can always benefit from.”
Since NewsNation crews have been in the Rio Grande Valley this week, multiple instances of human smuggling have been observed.
Cartel drones have also been spotted scouting on the U.S. side of the border. It’s unclear, however, whose jurisdiction or authority it would take to dismantle the drones.
U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, is calling on the Federal Aviation Administration to provide guidance on adversarial drones at the southern border.
Border Patrol agents who spoke with NewsNation said they would support that additional guidance.
“This is the United States of America,” said Smallwood. “And anybody who isn’t here with the correct intention — without the proper documentation, without any type of legality, then they just simply don’t belong here, and that goes as well as for drones. Anything that poses a threat to us, to our national security, to our agents that are on the ground, to our community simply is a threat towards us and has no reason to be in our area.”
The White House says President Donald Trump takes all security threats seriously and is looking into the reported drone sightings.
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Author: Ali Bradley
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