Border Patrol figures obtained by Action 4 News show a sharp increase in illegal immigrant apprehensions over the past week.
The U.S. Border Patrol Rio Grande Valley Sector tells Action 4 News they have seen a spike in illegal immigrants crossing the border and surrendering themselves.
When brought in for questioning, detainees told agents that people in their home countries are reporting that Border Patrol agents will not detain them due to budget cuts in the federal government's sequester that went into effect March 1st.
RGV SectorSspokesman Henry Mendiola Jr. said they will continue to detain anyone who crosses the border illegally.
"As long as the Border Patrol is out there, we are going to continue to make arrests, we are going to continue to detain, and we will continue to hand folks over for removal operations and for removal from the country,” Mendiola said.
Mendiola said they are fully staffed and have not made any changes or received any notice to begin making changes.
Border Patrol agents will continue to patrol on the ground 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKGBT