JACUMBA HOT SPRINGS, CA - A report released Sunday indicates that Mexican authorities have opened a new border checkpoint near a gap in the U.S.-Mexico border wall which has become colloquially known as the "San Judas Break," where illegal immigration into the U.S. occurs frequently.
According to CBS's 60 Minutes, locals in the area said that illegal immigrants have begun crossing the border at another location some four miles east of the four-foot wide gap, which is sixty miles east of San Diego, by navigating beneath razor wire following the establishment of the checkpoint. The new location is harder to reach and must be approached on foot rather than the SUVs that are common for human smugglers.
Sixty Minutes spoke with Jerry Shuster, an American landowner whose property lies near the gap. He told the outlet that by his estimate he'd seen approximately 3,000 illegal immigrants per week pass through since May 2023. "They come through the hole like they're coming to their own country over here," he said. "And nobody do nothin' about it."
Shuster told CBS that the Border Patrol is completely aware of the gap in the border wall near his land and that he's asked for it to be repaired. "'You gotta call Washington D.C,' that's what they say."
Frustratingly for Shuster, at one point he was beset by a hostile group of illegal immigrants on his property and attempted to scare them off, only to be arrested himself. “[I]t was, like, four month ago, there was eight guys start knocking my trees and start burning…my trees on the other side. So, I told 'em, ‘Please, don't do that. Please don't do,’ and they start surrounding me. I went home, and I got my gun, and I shoot in the air. They arrest me.”
Speaking to CBS News in early February, Sam Schultz, a Quaker former aid worker living nearby, said, "This hole is big enough that I have seen 150 people walk through it in less than a minute." He added that many of the illegal immigrants passing through are from China, either arriving in Ecuador or flying directly into Mexico via Cancun and Mexico City before coming to Tijuana and then through the gap.
As noted in previous reports, Chinese illegal immigrants are currently the fastest-growing group of illegal immigrants crossing through the porous southern border.
Shultz even described the account of another witness who was stuck at a Tijuana airport waiting for a flight. "He saw over 500 people from other nationalities flying into the airport — a lot of Chinese, a lot of Turks," he added, "They're not going to the beach in Ensenada."
As previously reported by Law Enforcement Today, ICE data has shown for 2023 that there have been over 3.2 million known encounters with illegal immigrants on the border, leading to just 142,000 deportations. The report from Sixty Minutes suggests that as many as 126,000 illegal immigrants may have penetrated the gap.
According to CBS's 60 Minutes, locals in the area said that illegal immigrants have begun crossing the border at another location some four miles east of the four-foot wide gap, which is sixty miles east of San Diego, by navigating beneath razor wire following the establishment of the checkpoint. The new location is harder to reach and must be approached on foot rather than the SUVs that are common for human smugglers.
Sixty Minutes spoke with Jerry Shuster, an American landowner whose property lies near the gap. He told the outlet that by his estimate he'd seen approximately 3,000 illegal immigrants per week pass through since May 2023. "They come through the hole like they're coming to their own country over here," he said. "And nobody do nothin' about it."
Shuster told CBS that the Border Patrol is completely aware of the gap in the border wall near his land and that he's asked for it to be repaired. "'You gotta call Washington D.C,' that's what they say."
Frustratingly for Shuster, at one point he was beset by a hostile group of illegal immigrants on his property and attempted to scare them off, only to be arrested himself. “[I]t was, like, four month ago, there was eight guys start knocking my trees and start burning…my trees on the other side. So, I told 'em, ‘Please, don't do that. Please don't do,’ and they start surrounding me. I went home, and I got my gun, and I shoot in the air. They arrest me.”
Speaking to CBS News in early February, Sam Schultz, a Quaker former aid worker living nearby, said, "This hole is big enough that I have seen 150 people walk through it in less than a minute." He added that many of the illegal immigrants passing through are from China, either arriving in Ecuador or flying directly into Mexico via Cancun and Mexico City before coming to Tijuana and then through the gap.
As noted in previous reports, Chinese illegal immigrants are currently the fastest-growing group of illegal immigrants crossing through the porous southern border.
Shultz even described the account of another witness who was stuck at a Tijuana airport waiting for a flight. "He saw over 500 people from other nationalities flying into the airport — a lot of Chinese, a lot of Turks," he added, "They're not going to the beach in Ensenada."
As previously reported by Law Enforcement Today, ICE data has shown for 2023 that there have been over 3.2 million known encounters with illegal immigrants on the border, leading to just 142,000 deportations. The report from Sixty Minutes suggests that as many as 126,000 illegal immigrants may have penetrated the gap.
For corrections or revisions, click here.
The opinions reflected in this article are not necessarily the opinions of LET
Comments
2024-02-24T11:56-0600 | Comment by: Darel
One wonders what the officers were thinking. CA is a lost cause