EAGLE PASS, Texas — Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy visited the small border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, to meet with law enforcement officials and tour the border area recently plagued by thousands of migrant crossings. While discussing the current border situation on the bank of the Rio Grande, Ramaswamy observed law enforcement authorities rescue a migrant family attempting to cross into the United States.
Friday’s visit comes after a recent trip to the northern border, where the candidate spoke to local officials about addressing threats along the isolated border between the United States and Canada earlier this month. Ramaswamy is vying for the Republican Party nomination in the 2024 United States presidential election.
Ramaswamy met with Texas Sheriffs Thaddeus Cleveland of Terrell County and Brad Coe of Kinney County on the bank of the Rio Grande to discuss border security. Both told Ramaswamy about the impact the migrant crisis is having on their communities as their departments struggle to curtail migrant smuggling on Texas highways leading through their counties.
Ramaswamy examined materials used by the State of Texas for a floating border barrier installed earlier this year. When speaking to reporters, Ramaswamy said his purpose was to listen, learn, and see firsthand what is currently in place at the border.
“We have our plan for the border, but I thought it important to see for myself what is transpiring now,” Ramaswamy stated. “We hear talk about militarizing the border, but we need to know exactly what that looks like.”
The presidential hopeful says he believes the aquatic barriers merit a closer look. As Ramaswamy watched, Texas state law enforcement authorities brought a migrant father and daughter to the shore of the Rio Grande after they nearly drowned while attempting to cross into the United States. After being plucked from the river, a Border Patrol agent administered first aid and monitored the vital signs of the migrant father as his nine-year-old daughter stood nearby.
Ramaswamy’s visit comes after a significant migrant surge during September. During the surge, thousands of mostly Venezuelan migrants traveling from southern Mexico aboard freight trains arrived daily to cross the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass.
Breitbart Texas posted in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, during the surge as more than 2,500 migrants moved through the city streets headed to the Rio Grande to begin the border crossing.
In one 72-hour period, 7,000 mostly Venezuelan migrants made the crossing. The crossings have slowed significantly recently as authorities in Mexico worked to prevent migrants from using the trains to reach the border. Those efforts resulted in a corresponding spike in migrant encounters in El Paso and Brownsville, Texas.
Ramaswamy concluded the tour by stopping at a Border Patrol migrant staging area near a port of entry. The Biden administration closed the point of legal border crossings due to the most recent spike in illegal crossings in September. He also visited the site of the floating border buoy barrier installed by the State of Texas.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
