Drowning migrants trying to cross into US flail in the Rio Grande

Drowning migrants trying to cross into the US from Mexico scream and flail in the Rio Grande before a people smuggler in a dinghy rescues them in dramatic video as Joe Biden continues to relax Trump-era border policies

• Harrowing footage shows moment migrants got into difficulty in the Rio Grande 
• Fox News reporter happened upon the incident Tuesday night in Roma, Texas
• Sean Hannity called it the result of Joe Biden’s ‘reckless open borders agenda’ 
• Biden formally axed Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy on Tuesday which kept asylum seekers in Mexico while their applications went through the US courts 

Drowning migrants trying to cross into the US from Mexico were this week saved from the Rio Grande by a people smuggler in the latest harrowing incident laying bare the crisis at the southern border.

Joe Biden’s ‘reckless’ open borders policy was described by Sean Hannity as ‘a gift to human traffickers, drug traffickers – a boom for the drug cartels … the consequences are devastating, 90 percent of the fentanyl [potent synthetic heroin] comes from that southern border.’

Footage captured by a Fox News reporter in Roma, Texas, showed migrants crying out for help in the water as they attempted to cross from the cartel stronghold of Ciudad Miguel Aleman, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, on Tuesday night.

Screams are heard echoing across the Rio Grande as migrants wail: ‘I’m drowning.’

A smuggler in a dinghy then appears to rescue them and fortunately all of the people survived.

‘This is a crisis,’ said reporter Sara Carter. ‘It was terrifying but everyone in that video survived, the Texas National Guard, as well as the Border Patrol were getting ready to go in and rescue them but the smuggler put them back in the boat.

‘That’s just a little of what we experienced last night.’

The Biden administration on Tuesday formally axed Donald Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy which kept asylum seekers on the other side of the southern border while they waited for hearings in US immigration courts.

The system had sent back around 70,000 migrants to Mexico since January 2019 – until Biden halted it on his first day in office earlier this year.

Migrants attempting to cross from Mexico are seen flailing around in the Rio Grande on Tuesday night

A smuggler in a dinghy then appears to rescue them and fortunately all of the people survived

The people smuggler is seen helping the people in the water. ‘This is a crisis,’ said reporter Sara Carter. ‘It was terrifying but everyone in that video survived, the Texas National Guard, as well as the Border Patrol were getting ready to go in and rescue them but the smuggler put them back in the boat’

Fox News reporter is seen rushing to the screams accompanied by members of the National Guard and Border Patrol

Hannity’s report also contained heartbreaking footage of a little boy who had been abandoned at the Texas border and crying out for help

Hannity’s report also contained heartbreaking footage of a little boy who had been abandoned at the Texas border crying out for help.

‘That child is the victim of these open border policies of Joe,’ Hannity said, ‘And that child deserves better, he’ll probably be put in one of Biden’s new cages where they’re on top of each other in the middle of a pandemic.’ 

The Biden administration on Tuesday marked the first of National Immigrant Heritage Month by asking Congress to pass the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, which Biden pitched his first day in office, paving the way for 11 million undocumented people to legally stay in the US. 

‘My plan would provide a pathway to lawful permanent residency and citizenship for these undocumented immigrants, including Dreamers, individuals with Temporary Protected Status, farm workers, and other essential workers who contribute to our Nation every day,’ Biden’s proclamation said. 

The White House memo also noted that it was an ‘especially difficult period’ thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and ‘the all-too-frequent demonization of immigrants,’ with Biden asking Americans to ‘recommit ourselves to our values as a welcoming Nation.’  

Biden’s changes to Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ were a foregone conclusion – as Biden had promised as a candidate to end the policy – but the president left a window open by ordering a review before shutting it down permanently. 

President Joe Biden’s (left) administration formally ended former President Donald Trump’s (right) ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy on Tuesday that forced asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said keeping the policy intact or modifying it ‘would not be consistent with this Administration’s vision and values and would be a poor use of the Department’s resources.’ 

He said the costs would far outweigh any benefits.

The policy coincided with a sharp decline of asylum-seekers at the border, but critics noted that people were hampered by violent conditions in Mexico, lack of access to lawyers and difficulty making it to court. 

Mayorkas acknowledged those concerns by noting the high rate of denied claims for failing to appear in court and the lack of housing, income and safety in Mexico.

Donald Trump blasted the ‘disastrous decision’ in a statement on Wednesday, calling the policy ‘one of the most successful border security programs anyone has ever put into effect anywhere.’  

‘The Biden Administration inherited the most secure border in history, and they turned it into the greatest border disaster in history. Our border is now run by cartels, criminals, and coyotes,’ Trump said.

He claimed that everything from criminals to ‘lethal drugs’ are ‘pouring across like never before.’

‘Not only are illegal immigrants being caught and released, they are being put up in hotels at taxpayer expense,’ Trump said, referencing the more relaxed ‘catch-and-release’ immigration policy the Obama administration has been associated with.  

Biden’s decision to end the Trump-era policy ‘is proof that their objective is to eliminate the U.S. border entirely and flood the country with so many illegal aliens that every community is overwhelmed,’ Trump said.

A group of migrants board a van to go get tested for Covid-19 at a migrant shelter on May 26 in Matamoros, Mexico

Asylum-seeking migrant families wait to be processed by U.S. Border Patrols after crossing the Rio Grande river into the United States from Mexico in Roma, Texas, on May 28

Asylum seeking unaccompanied migrant children from Central America board a U.S. border patrol bus after crossing the Rio Grande river into the United States from Mexico, in Roma, Texas, U.S., May 20

Since February 19, about 11,200 people with active cases have been allowed to return to the US to wait for a ruling, a process that can take years in the backlogged court system. 

The administration has yet to say if tens of thousands more whose cases were either dismissed or denied will get another chance.

The administration has largely kept in place pandemic-related powers introduced by Trump in March last year to expel people to Mexico without an opportunity to seek asylum, justified on grounds of protecting public health. 

Mayorkas acknowledged planning for those pandemic-related powers to be lifted but was light on specifics.

The secretary pointed to a new docket in immigration court announced Friday that aims to decide asylum cases at the border within 300 days. 

He promised ‘additional anticipated regulatory and policy changes,’ without elaborating.

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