Thread by @latimes

As darkness fell on the banks of the Rio Grande, cellphones glowed amid the reeds.

Smugglers could be heard inflating rubber rafts they have been using to ferry hundreds of migrant families and youths to the U.S. along this one stretch of the river.
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With border crossings from Mexico approaching a two-decade high, such scenes of migrants streaming across the water take place nightly in the Rio Grande Valley.

More than 130,000 migrants have been encountered there by Border Patrol since Oct. latimes.com/world-nation/s…

Reporter @mollyhf and photographer @carolyn_cole spent several nights on the Rio Grande, observing as smugglers and migrants crossed the river, interviewing some.

Here’s what they saw:
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Miguel Castellanos, 30, crossed with his family, including his 6-year-old daughter hoping to join his wife’s relatives in Los Angeles, where he knew he could earn as much in a week as he did in a month in San Salvador: $350. latimes.com/world-nation/s…

The Castellanos family was fleeing gang violence. Specifically the 18th Street gang that had originated in Los Angeles and later exported violence to their homeland. latimes.com/archives/la-xp…

As they move through brush, trying to avoid being seen by law enforcement who patrol the area, they shed bracelets they had been issued by smugglers to signify they paid for their passage. The area was littered with scores of the bracelets, a sign of how many have been crossing.

Texas state troopers did find the group of migrants and had them form a line in a nearby parking lot they use to process the immigrants.

Their first question: “Are there any youths who came alone? Any youths without parents, raise your hands.” latimes.com/world-nation/s…

The number of youths crossing the border alone has risen because some migrants had heard in their home countries that they could stay in the U.S if they crossed with their kids or that they be allowed to stay if they crossed with a child under age 7. That's only partly true.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. has been deporting migrants without allowing them to apply for asylum.

The Title 42 policy was started by the Trump administration but continues under President Biden. latimes.com/politics/story…

For the last month, the Mexican state opposite the Rio Grande Valley, Tamaulipas, has refused to allow U.S. immigration officials to return many families with children under age 7.

It’s not a firm rule, migrant advocates say, and some are still deported. latimes.com/world-nation/s…

Read more about the recent surge in border crossings via @mollyhf
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