PEÑITAS, Texas (Border Report) — On these windswept South Texas brushlands, there is a trail of wristbands that tell so many stories.
Leading from the Rio Grande, each wristband represents a different cost or code that migrant smugglers give their human cargo before they’re illegally brought across the border.
Officials with the U.S. Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector took Border Report to the spot early Wednesday. They say the wristbands are proof that although migrant encounters are down, cartel activities aren’t.
“Each wristband represents some type of illegal entry,” said Agent Christina Smallwood, a spokeswoman for the sector. “Each color symbolizes something – the wording, the symbolism on them, the imagery.”
Some read “entregas,” or deliveries, others say “llegadas,” which means arrivals. Some say “Mexicans” and all indicate in code which cartel is trafficking the person, how much they paid, and how many times they have tried to cross.
Smallwood says migrants have told Border Patrol agents that they are told not to remove the wristbands because if they do and fail to make it to the U.S., then they cannot try again. But if they are sent back, wristbands on, then the cartel often gives them so many tries before they charge them again.
The average price to cross the Rio Grande has typically been about $8,000 per person. But officials say that has gone up as the new Trump administration is cracking down on border security and has cut off asylum entries altogether.
When President Donald Trump took office he did away with the CBP One app, which allowed up to 1,450 migrants to make asylum appointments at one of eight U.S. ports of entry every day.
Agents are enforcing Title 8 laws, which means that anyone who crosses illegally between U.S. ports of entry can be arrested and deported. Those who try to re-enter face jail time.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem this week said daily border apprehensions have hit a 15year low. She said daily border encounters have dropped 95% since Trump took office.
“President Trump and this Administration are saving lives every day because of the actions we are taking to secure the border and deport illegal alien criminals,” Noem said.
In the RGV Sector, border apprehensions are averaging 100 to 150 per day, a significant drop from 3,000 per day in early 2023, says Border Patrol Agent Andres Garcia, another sector spokesperson.
“It’s been good,” he said, “Lately we can actually say activity has been down. That can be attributed to the fact that this sector in particular has been doing a lot of consequences, you know, regarding Title 8.”
However, the stricter policies do not mean migrants are not trying to cross. It means they are evading law enforcement instead of crossing and surrendering to border authorities as so many did under the previous administration.
Smallwood says that’s why the border wall is so important, because it helps agents in the field.
“The wall is just a deterrent. It’s not there to stop illegal entry, right? What it does is, the wall funnels traffic all toward one area.”
Garcia says the more desperate migrants and smugglers become, the more dangerous they are to encounter.
“This job itself, being just out here in the middle of the night, it’s always dangerous. You have to also keep an eye out and always be aware of your surroundings. It happens, you know. Now with, like you mentioned before, there could be a little less people trying to cross, and a little bit more desperation. It just depends. We’ve seen it all,” Garcia said.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.