Border Patrol Agents Save 63 Stranded Illegal Aliens in Rio Grande

DEL RIO, TX -- U.S. Border Patrol agents saved more than 60 migrants last week who had gotten stuck in the middle of the RIo Grande. 

On April 12, agents were patrolling the river when they came across 14 people who had been stranded on an island in the middle of the Rio Grande River. The agents then called in the Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue team to help get these people to safety. A rescue boat was brought in and took the migrants to U.S. side of the border. 

After this incident Agents started to watch the island and two days later the agents found a group of 21 migrants on the island. The agents discovered that the migrants had been trying to cross the border illegally through the swift-flowing river. Once in the river the rapids would push them to the island but it would to fast to cross back onto either country. 

On April 18 agents once again found 28 migrants who had tried to come across the border illegally. According to the Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Raul L. Ortiz, all of the migrants were from Central America including unaccompanied children and family units. 

“Crossing the Rio Grande River is extremely dangerous under the best of conditions,” said Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Raul L. Ortiz. “With the increased water levels, the river is running faster and higher than normal making any attempt to cross the river even more treacherous. Thanks to our agents’ vigilance, these attempted crossings did not result in the loss of life.”

For the next 25 days the Rio Grande will be especially high flowing due to a water released from the Amistad Dam. Water is regularly transferred downstream to meet irrigation and municipal water demand in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, which creates dangerous conditions to anyone attempting to cross the Rio Grande River and to agents operating on or near the river.