Migrants caught on new video streaming down remote California mountainside to illegally cross the border
Stunning video recorded by Fox News showed what appeared to be a trail of illegal immigrants streaming down a mountainside into a rural area of Southern California.
About an hour's drive east of San Diego, anywhere from dozens to possibly over 100 migrants were captured on both Fox News ground and drone cameras tediously walking down a crevasse in the mountain range in Jacumba, California. To cross the border illegally, it appeared the migrants climbed the mountain from the Mexican side.
A steady stream of illegal immigrants was then seen trekking to the bottom alongside Interstate 8 to be greeted by just two Border Patrol agents at the scene.
Three men who made it down the mountain told Fox News they were from Kazakhstan. Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin said a larger group of Chinese migrants were also at the location, watching and filming on their iPhones the stream of other migrants coming down the mountainside.
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Fox News observed a mixture of adults and families with young children. An elderly woman was seen carrying a baby in her arms down the mountain.
The scene was atypical, as migrants often take the path of least resistance – through holes in the border wall on the ground level not far from where he was in California. Along the interstate, cameras captured a makeshift camp of migrants from around the world – including Africa, China and Turkey – watching the other migrants climb down from the mountain. The two Border Patrol agents at the scene appeared to be outmanned.
Not many U.S. Border Patrol agents were at the scene throughout the day to process the flow of migrants.
Texas, under Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, has taken measures to deter migrants from crossing its border illegally, including by increasing the National Guard presence, erecting razor wire despite the disapproval of the Biden administration and kicking federal agents out of a park in Eagle Pass, known to be a hot spot for illegal crossings. Amid Texas' unwelcoming posture to migrants, sources have told Fox News that more illegal immigration has shifted west to the border of the blue states of California and Arizona, where there is less resistance.
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The San Diego border sector continues to be inundated with migrants from China and around the world. In recent months, cartels have begun pushing massive amounts of Chinese nationals across the border in the remote area of Jacumba. Sources also told Fox News Chinese national have been flying into Baja California Sur.
Typically, Chinese nationals fly into South American countries with looser visa regulations and country hop until getting to Mexico, where they are granted humanitarian visas and allowed to travel throughout the country. Eventually, they board trains or buses to head north to the U.S. border.
California became the first state in the country to start offering tax-payer-funded healthcare to illegal immigrants at the start of this year.