HIDALGO, Texas (Border Report) — The Trump administration has authorized several more federal agencies to arrest and detain undocumented immigrants.
Law enforcement officials in the U.S. Marshals Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons now have the authority to investigate and apprehend immigrants they believe to be in the country illegally.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman issued the directive Thursday evening, expanding the arresting powers by the Department of Justice.
“Mobilizing these law enforcement officials will help fulfill President Trump’s promise to the American people to carry out mass deportations. For decades, efforts to find and apprehend illegal aliens have not been given proper resources. This is a major step in fixing that problem,” a DHS spokesman said in a statement sent to Border Report.
It comes at a time when President Donald Trump has been issuing executive orders broadening border security forces to include active duty military troops.
Deportation flights of migrants have begun by the U.S. military on the southern border, according to a post Friday on X by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“President Trump is sending a strong and clear message to the entire world: if you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face severe consequences,” she wrote.
In South Texas, most repatriations are happening at the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge, which leads to Reynosa, Mexico.
Border Patrol spokeswoman Christina Smallwood told Border Report on Friday that immigrants who are detained for illegally crossing into the Rio Grande Valley are driven in buses to the bridge, removed and physically walked by Border Patrol agents to the halfway point of the bridge where they are handed over to Mexican authorities.
“If you cross illegally you will be sent back,” Smallwood said.
Repatriations at the bridge have long occurred under Title 8, which forbids crossing into the United States unless at legal ports of entry.
However it is expected that with additional arresting agencies, and the military being sent to the Southwest border that more deportations will occur.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com
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