False claim of nearly 11,000 daily border crossings in Texas city | Fact check

Andre Byik, USA TODAY

The claim: Nearly 11,000 'illegals' were processed in Eagle Pass, Texas, in one day in mid-March 2024

A March 13 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a large group of people covered in emergency foil blankets near a bridge.

"Almost 11,000 illegals processed by US authorities along southern border in past 24 hours alone in Eagle Pass, Texas," the video's on-screen caption says. "This is an invasion. We are under attack."

The post was liked more than 5,000 times in a week.

But the U.S. Border Patrol averaged fewer than 500 daily encounters with immigrants in Eagle Pass' sector during the week that includes March 13, a spokesperson said. The video shown in the post originally circulated in December 2023, when news reports indicated illegal crossings of the southern border surpassed 10,000 on some days that month.

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Video circulated in December 2023 when migrant crossings surged

Cecilia Barreda, a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said it's not true that nearly 11,000 migrants were processed in the border city of Eagle Pass on either March 12 or March 13, which would have included the 24 hours before the post was made late on March 13.

Another spokesperson for the agency, who declined to be named, said the Border Patrol averaged fewer than 500 encounters per day in the week including March 13 in the entirety of the Del Rio Sector, which has the area shown in the Instagram video.

The video shows migrants gathered in Eagle Pass, but it's not from when the post claims it is. It originally circulated in December 2023, when illegal crossings at the southern border surpassed 10,000 on some days, the Associated Press reported on Dec. 19, 2023.

Fact check: Post wrongly asserts migrants who illegally enter US can't be arrested

There was no such influx in the days before this post, though National Guard troops were stationed in Eagle Pass as part of Gov. Greg Abbott's border enforcement efforts, the New York Times reported March 19.

A new Texas immigration law that would authorize state and local officials to arrest and deport people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally has been the subject of dueling federal rulings, USA TODAY reported March 20. The U.S. Supreme Court had paved the way for Senate Bill 4 to take effect March 19 before a federal appeals court issued a hold on the law. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments March 20 but did not issue a ruling.

USA TODAY has debunked numerous false claims involving immigration at the southern border, including that migrants can't be arrested for illegally entering the U.S., that President Joe Biden announced a formal citizenship pathway involving a seven-year window, and that Biden announced tax incentives for families willing to shelter migrants in exchange for labor.

The Instagram user who shared the video did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

We rate this claim False.

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A group of migrants from Venezuela walks along the banks of the Rio Grande to surrender to the U.S. Border Patrol after entering Texas at Eagle Pass on Jan. 8.
A group of migrants from Venezuela walks along the banks of the Rio Grande to surrender to the U.S. Border Patrol after entering Texas at Eagle Pass on Jan. 8.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Post overstates migrant crossings into Texas border city | Fact check

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