Footage taken this week at the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas shows a group of adult men and small children being escorted to a staging area by the Texas National Guard after the group was discovered shortly after crossing the border.
The video was originally posted to Instagram by former Marine and activist Victor Marx. His group “All Things Possible” goes to the border to provide humanitarian in the form of stuffed animals, water and snacks to women and children who cross the border.
Marx’s party witnessed a group of men and small children being led by Texas National Guard members to a staging area near Fronton, Texas, where they are processed and eventually turned over into federal custody.
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The Texas Department of Public Safety did not authenticate the video itself but did confirm that Marx and “All Things Possible” were near the border and in contact with the Texas National Guard.
Marx claimed that the group was illustrative of how often adults cross the border with children who are not theirs.
“That video footage was a perfect example. This was one group, not a woman in there. These are all hard dudes,” Marx said.
Customs and Border Protection told Fox News that it “conducts interviews to identify adults who fraudulently are claiming to be the parent of a minor child” and “may also look for evidence that the same child has been encountered on multiple occasions with different adults or claimed family members. This Fiscal Year, CBP has identified over 50 cases of fraudulent family unit claims.”
Lt. Col. Pete Chambers of the Texas National Guard, who serves as a liaison between the Guard and NGOs like “All Things Possible,” said it is not uncommon for groups of all shapes and sizes to cross the border.
“You definitely see groups of weird variations,” Chambers said. “Two little girls the other night who were like seven years old, sisters, no parents. Then there was a group last night probably about kids and one adult lady who was not related to any of them.”
Citing rough numbers, Chambers said that in the sector he is responsible for there are several thousand people crossing the border per week.
Marx lauded the Texas National Guard for its work on the border and for allowing outside groups like his to access migrants where he said the federal government is “really running interference. He said: “Even just six months ago you could have access, they would take you on tours … people were open. Now it’s shut down like it’s unreal.”
Marx added: “That’s why these overcrowded facilities, that’s why they’re hiding all this. They know the federal government knows they’re not doing a good job because of the sheer numbers of kids that are here.”
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Marx also said that his group’s humanitarian work is rewarding, especially given the situation of many of the migrants who cross the border.
“Last night there was a group, and these were families, and man they were dehydrated,” Marx said. “Some had been traveling for a month and a half to get here and then some are hiding — they’re hiding all day. They don’t have water. So when they cross over and we do first contact, we kive the kids and women water, snacks and then the lion and the lamb,” he said, referring to stuffed animals they hand out.
“There’s music in it. There’s prayers. It’s made specific to lower anxiety. So that’s why you’ll see kids, they’ll clinch it, and start to cry or they smile or they laugh,” he added. “The border should be far more secure. But once these kids and women make it in we must move to a humanitarian point.”