‘Organized’ chaos
Border rush a stunt awry
The migrants who attempted to storm the US border at El Paso, Texas, Monday were led by an artist and activist in a stunt that went wrong — leading to his arrest.
Roberto Marquez, a US citizen from Dallas, told The Post he organized the gathering of migrants who stormed toward officers while waving giant Venezuelan and Honduran flags, as well as a US flag with “We the migrants built America” stitched onto it.
The situation became violent after one Border Patrol agent was attacked with a flag pole and another was hit was a rock. Agents used “less-lethal crowd control measures,” like shooting pepper balls.
Brandon Judd, president of the Border Patrol union, told The Post it was an unusual to see a seemingly spontaneous uprising.
“That type of an organized effort does not normally come from people who are just coming up from another country that are going to be asking for asylum,” he said.
Tent city grows
Those who rushed the border were mostly Venezuelan asylumseekers who had already crossed the international border and had been expelled to Mexico under a recent mandate by President Biden.
Venezuelans interviewed by Bordereport.com and El Diario said they had been instructed by the activist to cross the river and head across the border.
Ejected migrants have been amassing on the Mexican side of the border, erecting a tent city while waiting for another chance to enter the US. Pictures taken by a Post photographer Thursday show how the encampment is growing, with destitute and desperate people joining the crowd daily.
Marquez’ son confirmed to The Post he had been arrested and his mother had been helping to get him released. El Paso jail records show Marquez was charged with failure to report to a port of entry for inspection and released Friday.
The other man arrested, a Venezuelan national who has not been identified, will face charges of entry without inspection — which could find him ejected from the US and barred from entering again.
It’s unclear what consequences Marquez’ stunt will have on Venezuelans who participated. Although most ran back into Mexico, they could be identified by cameras on the border, and punished if they attempt to cross into the US again.
On Oct. 13, the Biden administration applied Title 42 — a pandemic measure to expel migrants from the US quickly over health concerns — to Venezuelans. Since that time, about 1,800 Venezuelans have been returned to Mexico, a number dwarfed by the total number of Venezuelans — 189,000 — who crossed the southern border of the US in the fiscal year 2022.