Dozens of illegal immigrants accused of bursting through a razor wire fence and storming the border in El Paso, Texas, in March have been released into the United States, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has confirmed to Fox News Digital.
An ICE spokesperson said that 43 of the more than 200 illegal immigrants who took part in the riot were released.
As first reported by the New York Post, the agency said that 32 others remained in ICE custody pending immigration court hearings, and 105 migrants were detained pending removal from the U.S. ICE said another 43 of the migrants were successfully deported.
The riot happened on March 21, when hundreds of migrants attempted to enter the U.S. illegally by rushing a border fence in an area of the southern border in El Paso.
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Video footage published by the Post showed dozens of adult men ripping away razor wire that had been set up by the state and charging past Texas National Guard personnel. They then ran toward a section of border wall, where they were blocked from entering further.
The incident comes as part of an ongoing situation along the border, where Texas, as part of Operation Lone Star, has set up razor wire and other barriers along the border in an effort to curb the historic amounts of illegal migration that have hit it since 2021.
Following the March incident, U.S. Customs and Border Protection increased patrols in the area and stressed that those involved in the riot could face removal.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection sources told Fox News on Monday that the agency apprehended about 87,600 illegal immigrants at the southern border in June, the lowest monthly total in over three years.
The previous low was 75,316 in January 2021, when President Biden first took office. In December 2020, former President Trump’s last full month in office, there were 71,141 apprehensions.
The apprehension numbers at the southern border have plummeted since Biden’s executive order on illegal immigration took effect in early June, just months ahead of the 2024 presidential election, along with Mexico’s increased border enforcement.
Biden’s order temporarily suspends the entry of non-citizens across the southern border once the number of average border encounters exceeds 2,500 a day over seven days. It stays in effect until 14 days after there has been a seven-day average of less than 1,500 encounters along the border.
Fox News’ Bill Melugin and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
