Texas border town declares state of emergency over ‘severe’ surge of illegal immigrants — predominantly single adult men

The small Texas border town of Eagle Pass declared a state of emergency on Wednesday amid a “severe” surge of illegal immigrants, predominantly single adult men, attempting to cross into the United States.

Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas, Jr. issued the emergency declaration “due to the severe undocumented immigrant surge” plaguing the city. The emergency order will continue for a seven-day period unless renewed by the city council.

“The state of disaster requires for certain emergency protective measures be taken pursuant to the Texas Disaster Act of 1975 relating to the Emergency Management and Public Health,” the order stated. “The declaration of the local state of disaster activates the City of Eagle Pass, Texas Emergency Plan. Additionally, it authorizes the City of Eagle Pass to seek aid and assistance under the declaration.”

Salinas noted that the city “is committed to the safety and well being of our local citizens. The emergency declaration grants us the ability to request financial resources to provide the additional services caused by the influx of the undocumented immigrants.”

Bill Melugin, a Fox News national correspondent, shared photographs and videos of “massive” waves of migrants illegally entering the United States.

On Wednesday morning, Melugin wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, “Mass illegal crossing of well over 1,000 migrants into Eagle Pass, TX taking place right now, w/ many of them telling me they are from Venezuela.” He noted that some of the illegal migrants stated that they had hitched a ride on a train in Mexico.

Melugin described one of the “enormous” groups of migrants as made up of “predominantly single adult men” who were “waiting to be processed by Border Patrol.”

“Patrol. More are still crossing right now. Never-ending line coming in. No fear of consequences for crossing illegally. They expect to be released into the US after processing,” he said, calling the Eagle Pass border crossing “a total free for all.”

Texas Department of Public Safety told the reporter Wednesday afternoon that at least 4,000 have crossed into Eagle Pass over the past day.

On Monday, the New York Post reported that Mexican drug cartels are leading an effort to spread inaccurate rumors online, telling migrants hoping to seek asylum in the U.S. that they will be allowed into the country. Law enforcement officials told the outlet that they believe the cartel is attempting to overwhelm the border and create a distraction for officers while they sneak illicit drugs into the country.

Earlier this week, Fox News Digital reported that more than 2,200 illegal immigrants crossed the Eagle Pass border into the United States.

Mexico’s biggest freight company, Ferromex, announced Tuesday that it would suspend 60 trains due to the “unprecedented” number of migrants hitching a ride up to the border. The company noted that the migrants’ train-hopping resulted in a “half-dozen regrettable cases of injury or death.”

“Due to this, Ferromex will temporarily suspend its operations on the affected routes to protect the physical integrity of the migrants, and will be monitoring whatever measures authorities implement,” the company said.

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