Shocking photos show scores of migrants sleeping in cramped Texas garage during 100f weather and overflowing potty they're forced to use as ongoing border crisis worsens
Shocking photos reveal the overcrowded and filthy conditions illegal migrants are living in after being intercepted while crossing the US southern border.
Photos from the former acting commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection reveal the disaster taking place at two migrant holding areas in Texas.
The photos revealed more than 1,000 immigrants shoved under a bridge in Anzalduas Park, in Mission, all facing 100-degree heat and disgusting bathroom facilities with overflowing waste.
Meanwhile, the Rio Grande Valley processing station - which has space to hold 600 migrants for processing - is currently housing 12,000, with no end to the onslaught of people in sight.
'The White House said migrants are being handled in a humane and orderly way,' Mark Morgan, the former commissioner said.
'This isn't humane or orderly, and it's not the Border Patrol's fault. They are doing all they can to deal with the disaster created by Biden.'
Speaking to DailyMail.com Friday, Morgan explained how July's figures - 210,000 migrants intercepted crossing from Mexico, were the highest in history, and just 10,000 short of 220,000 recorded on a single month during the 1990s.
Mark Morgan, President Donald Trump's former commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, says conditions at the migrant holding facilities around the border have not improved since Biden took office
NEW: This is the largest group of migrants we’ve ever seen being held by Border Patrol under Anzalduas Bridge in Mission, TX. Looks like it could be up to 1,000 people. We can only get a look at the area with our drone. There’s a popular Rio Grande crossing area nearby. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/AsAygsO966
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) August 1, 2021
NEW: This is the largest group of migrants we’ve ever seen being held by Border Patrol under Anzalduas Bridge in Mission, TX. Looks like it could be up to 1,000 people. We can only get a look at the area with our drone. There’s a popular Rio Grande crossing area nearby. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/AsAygsO966
Thousands of migrants took refuge underneath the bridge near the Anzalduas Park holding site as temperatures reached about 100 degrees in Mission, Texas
According to preliminary figures, 210,000 were apprehended in July at the southern border. The chart shows a comparison between apprehensions in 2021 and 2020
He added that while he heard of stories of no showers and toilets available to migrants during President Donald Trump's terms in office, little has been done, despite Biden's calls for change.
Morgan, who now works for educational institute The Heritage Foundation in Washington DC said an estimated 300,000 migrants have successfully crossed into the US without being intercepted since January.
He added that 50 of those caught by border patrol agents have convictions for murder.
He shared how people have been forced to sleep huddled close to one another under bridges in 100F weather, despite COVID fears. Many of those migrants are hungry, with mothers struggling to breastfeed their children, and basic hygiene facilities in short supply.
Morgan criticized the Biden administration's handling of the situation, saying that border agents were 'done' with the lack of assistance from the federal government, the Washington Examiner reports.
He cited a memo from the Fort Brown Station in Rio Grande Valley, requesting help to process the 10,000 migrants currently there. Since that memo went up, more than 2,000 more migrants have appeared at the site, he said.
In July, 210,000 migrants crossed into the U.S. along the southern border, the highest one-month total in 21 years, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The number of children traveling alone who were picked up at the border reached an all-time high of more than 19,000 in July, according to preliminary numbers shared with the Associated Press by David Shahoulian, assistant secretary for border and immigration policy at the Department of Homeland Security .
The migrants at the Anzaduas Park site had originally been housed in the city of McAllen before being relocated on Thursday.
Local officials had voiced their concerns that the new site in Anzalduas Park would not be adequate without the proper assistance from the federal government, KRGV reported.
Photos of the Anzalduas Park site shows tents being set up. Officials say that the tents are meant to hold 250 people, but have seen more than 600 occupy them
Thousands of migrants at the site in Anzalduas have tested positive for Covid-19
They were moved to the new site and away from the city of McAllen, which declared a disaster emergency on Monday
Morgan shared this photo of a bathroom overflowing with waste at Anzalduas Park
They said said the tents that would house the migrants had an original capacity of 250 people, but noted that more than 600 were occupying them at a time.
Morgan claimed that of 7,000 migrants who had tested positive for Covid-19 had been released to McAllen.
McAllen Republican Mayor Javier Villalobos had issued a disaster declaration on Monday, citing 'recent increases in number of released immigrants and the potential for even greater numbers,' according to a Facebook post he put out on Wednesday.
He also noted that charitable organizations designated to help migrants in the area are overwhelmed and are buckling under the influx.
The greater area of Hidalgo County followed suit and declared a disaster on Tuesday
Both Villalobos and Texas Governor Abbott have blamed Biden for the current situation.
Villalobos captioned his video with contact information for federal officials, with just Joe Biden's name topping the list
The McAllen mayor said the city 'should not be involved' in directing migrants after the city commission voted to set up emergency housing to deal with the influx
In a bid to stem the flow of migrants to his state and keep COVID transmission down Abbott signed an executive order last week to prohibit ground transport of migrants by anyone other than law enforcement.
Abbott accused the Biden White House of 'knowingly importing COVID-19' and 'jeopardizing the health and safety of Texans on a daily basis.'
A federal judge temporarily blocked the order.
Villalobos said McAllen's formal disaster declaration was a bid to get help from the state and federal governments.
Villalobos insisted he did not blame the migrants or local officials trying 'to protect your community' but acknowledged the high rate of migrants coming into McAllen with COVID is a problem.
