U.S. border agents are encountering record numbers of migrant families, most who are anxiously waiting to be picked up.
Border Patrol Agent Joe Romero looks across into Anapra, Mexico, his gaze fixed on a woman and two children walking with determination past Monument One, an official border marker for the spot where New Mexico, Texas and Chihuahua converge.
"If you don't mind turning yourself in, this is a great place to do it and easy way to do it," Romero said of the stretch at Sunland Park that has become a busy crossing point for Central American families.
"God willing we'll get asylum," said Imelda Garcia, who traveled from El Salvador with her 11-year-old son, Danny. The girl with them is an unaccompanied minor who connected with Garcia on their trip to the U.S.
As elected officials from Washington, D.C., to Santa Fe grapple with the policy implications of tens of thousands of migrant families and unaccompanied children seeking refuge at our nation's southwestern border, agents like Romero are on the front lines watching the chaos unfold.
From late afternoon into Monday night, Romero will encounter more than 60 such migrants, with the vast majority asking for asylum. They are all ages, including infants and toddlers in the arms of their parents. They also cover the gamut from well-dressed and rested to exhausted, bedraggled and extremely fearful.
Romero will also run into four heavily armed militia members who have camped out to keep watch. And he will spot a man wearing sunglasses and a cap seated across the border in Mexico taking notes, clearly a lookout for the human smugglers, the agent says.
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The Albuquerque Journal reports that the influx of families and children from Central America is just one of the many changes Romero has seen in his 13 years of service.
Back when he started, the people he apprehended were mostly from Mexico and included many undocumented workers coming to fill jobs. In those cases, they were usually quickly deported back to Mexico.
These days, the El Paso sector, which includes all of New Mexico, is coping with a 430 percent increase in family migration. U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently released the latest numbers for the entire border, and February set a record with more than 76,000 parents with children and juveniles arriving on their own.
In most cases, they have paid smugglers to drop them off near the border.
Most of the attention has focused on large groups crossing at remote spots like Antelope Wells in southwest New Mexico, but many migrants are now choosing to cross in or near El Paso and Sunland Park.
By week's end, agents took in more than 1,000 people in El Paso alone. Across the border in Mexico, Ciudad Juarez has become a hub for people seeking asylum, like Imelda Garcia.
"My son is in danger," she said in an interview. Gang violence is a pervasive threat in El Salvador. But she said the small girl in a winter coat who walked across the border with them is not her daughter.
"She's alone," Garcia said. "Poor thing." The child, Estela Enriquez, said she is 14, and that she is trying to get to Virginia to reunite with her mother.
Minors are handed over to Health and Human Services, which cares for them in shelters until a parent or other relative who can serve as a guardian in the U.S. is located.
An unaccompanied child crossing into the U.S. isn't uncommon here. But something is unusual about this group that catches Romero's attention.
"They weren't dirty at all. Their shoes were clean," Romero said. Their appearance suggests the trio did not walk far and were probably dropped off right at the border.
In fact, the smaller groups often pay extra to be delivered to a spot right on the border where they can turn themselves in to an agent.
Garcia did not want to reveal details about how they got from El Salvador, but Romero said he's sure they used a human smuggler.
What was particularly unusual about this group was that two Juarez City Police vehicles followed behind them up to the border while a third unit watched.
"Not one unit, three for three people," Romero said with concern, wondering whether some police officers were working with smugglers.
Border Patrol agents often talk to Mexican police they see right on the border and work together in some instances, according to Romero. But this time the police vehicles took off quickly when they spotted his uniform.
A Juarez City Police spokesperson said the department "had no knowledge of that situation."
The sheer number of migrant families is straining Border Patrol facilities and manpower. Indeed, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan sounded the alarm last week.
"The system is well beyond capacity and remains at a breaking point," he said.
The El Paso sector includes seven legal ports of entry, including three in New Mexico: Santa Teresa, Columbus and Antelope Wells. While asylum seekers are encouraged to file a claim with Customs and Border Protection officers at legal border crossings, CBP has instituted a "metering" system that limits the number of claims accepted each day to as few as 20 in El Paso.
Migrants need only to step foot on U.S. soil to ask for asylum, so hundreds a day are crossing between ports of entry and approaching Border Patrol agents instead of waiting in Mexico. The El Paso sector covers 268 miles of border and "employs 2,400 Border Patrol agents" according to CBP. There are, however, many vacancies among the Border Patrol ranks in the El Paso sector.
"I'd like to give credit to these agents," said Border Patrol Chief Aaron Hull, who is in charge of the El Paso sector. "Regardless of the conditions they face, they demonstrate time and time again that they're tough enough to do a job that a lot of people are not willing or able to do. I have nothing but respect for the professionalism and dignity in which they conduct themselves regardless of the circumstances that we're asking them to face."
On the moonless night near Mount Cristo Rey in Sunland Park, agents see another incoming group, and they suspect they are trying to sneak into the country from Mexico, because of the route they are taking.
"If you don't want to get caught (a border crosser will) end up using the mountain," Romero explained.
Agents with the horse patrol wait in silence in the dark as another agent drives to the spot where activity was detected.
Over the radio, the agent identifies the Central American group he found as more "give ups," among them parents with children.
They had been wandering, obviously cold and not dressed for the weather, desperately looking for the Border Patrol.
A cold wind whips through the darkness as the Horse Patrol arrives on the spot to wait for transportation for the weary group sitting on the ground.
"The smuggler pointed the way, but didn't give real good directions. They just got lost," Romero said.
