The U.S. military is sending 250 active-duty troops to Eagle Pass, Texas.
That’s across the border from where some 1,800 migrants, apparently wanting to come to the U.S, are being housed by the Mexican government.
Thousands of federal, state and local authorities even military personnel have flooded this usually quiet community on the banks of the Rio Grande.
“It’s a combination of customs and border protection vehicles and Texas state troopers they are all lined up literally side by side all nose-facing towards Mexico… and then if you take a look at the other side of the Rio Grande across the border just recently we’ve seen this, Mexican authorities now lined up facing exactly the opposite direction,” CNN reporter Martin Savidge said.
Eagle Pass’s mayor is grateful but also a bit taken aback. Mayor Ramsey English Cantu said: “We are extremely appreciative of the work that they do … but this is something that is unprecedented.”
Law enforcement patrol in vehicles, on ATV’s, on bicycles even on horseback. Helicopters monitor from above, while high powered airboats prowl the shallow water of the Rio Grande.
The security surge is in response to the arrival of a caravan of 1,800 Central American migrants just on the other side of the border said to have their sights on seeking U.S. Asylum.