The escalating tension between migrants and Border Patrol agents came to a head on Thursday after videos emerged showing what a reporter describes as a “riot” occurring on the El Paso border.
The videos show migrants attempting to cross into the United States destroying barricades and overwhelming border patrol agents.
El Paso Riot
Reporter Jennie Taer published a video on social media platform X that showed hundreds of migrants pushing through toward barricades in an attempt to cross into the United States.
“BREAKING: A riot just broke out here in El Paso Hundreds of migrants decided they had enough of TX National Guard returning them to Mexico and rushed the border wall here. Thankful to be here w/ @JamesBreeden,” Taer wrote.
Absolute Chaos
In subsequent X posts, Taer would describe the moment that migrants managed to break a barrier in El Paso just in front of the border wall.
“This is the moment when TX National Guard became overrun by migrants rioting to get across the border here in El Paso today. We were there and saw it all happen. Absolute chaos here.”
Concertina Wire
Mexican photojournalist J. Omar Ornelas put out an X post documenting the crossing from the other side of the border.
“Hundreds of migrants were pushed south of the concertina wire in the middle of the night by Texas National Guard. Hours later they again breached the concertina and made a rush for the border wall in El Paso, Texas. #Border #Texas,” Ornelas’s post said.
Razor Wire in El Paso
The razor wire barriers in El Paso protect walls that can reach as high as 30 feet in this crossing area. Texas started installing these barriers on a larger scale after its launch of Operation Loan Star in 2021.
Although razor wire can be easily circumvented with the right tools, border security relies on razor wire to slow down migrant groups, giving them time to coordinate a response to a big push.
Dispute Between Texas and the Federal Government
In January, a dispute between Texas Governor Greg Abbot and the Biden administration escalated over the increased crossings in recent months. One part of the dispute was the use of razor wire, which the administration ordered dismantled.
This dispute turned into a standoff where federal border agents were not allowed by the state attorney general to access crossing points in the Rio Grande.
Texas Senate Bill 4
Texas recently introduced a law called SB 4 that would have allowed police to arrest people directly who were illegally crossing the southern border. A federal appeals court blocked the law from going into effect on the grounds that it violates the constitutional authority of the federal government.
This legal step towards controlling immigration is ongoing and may need to be resolved by the US Supreme Court.
Injuries Common at El Paso
The El Paso crossing has become a popular one for migrants hoping to gain entry into the US. In response, Texas has erected high walls to dissuade migrants from trying to make a crossing attempt.
However, this seems to not have stopped migrants from trying. Local doctors report that migrants consistently injure themselves dropping down from the tall walls which can result in extreme injuries.
Rhetorical Chaos
Some place the blame for the chaos on the US government. The county commissioner for El Paso’s Precinct 2 for nearly 10 years is David Stout. In past comments to Newsweek, Stout framed the “chaos” narrative as the fault of Texas government leadership, not the migrants.
“They want to create chaos,” Stout said. “They don’t want to see the issues that we’re facing here on the border. They want there to be chaos so that it will play into their rhetoric that there is chaos on the border.”
US Migrant Crisis
This incident between border patrol and migrants is just the latest being witnessed as a result of an influx of crossings that some are calling the “US Migrant Crisis.”
In February, Pew Research said that migrant encounters reached a historic high at the end of 2023 with more than 250,000 migrant encounters recorded by US Border Patrol in December.
Election Context
Another event happening in the background of this incident is the 2024 US elections in November. This year’s election features a fierce contest between hopeful presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump, who have each made it a priority to address border concerns.
Both presidential candidates even went to the Texas border on the same day to give separate speeches in late February.
More Incidents Possible
As the election draws closer, it’s likely that more videos of these incidents will be released. Both political parties are motivated to blame the other for the problems at America’s southern border and will work to frame from their perspective to the American public.
A Pew Research survey in February found that a 78% majority of Americans think the current migrant crossings are a “crisis” or a “major problem.”
