


Countless migrants have been lining the tracks of a freight train line headed to the US through Eagle Pass, Texas, apparently hoping to hop onboard and hitch a ride to the border, according to reports.
The migrants were filmed near the Mexican city of Piedras Negras, according to shocking footage obtained by Fox News, located just across the border from the major US port of entry in Eagle Pass.
A seemingly endless line of migrants laden with luggage and children raised their hands and cheered as the train rumbled by at a steady clip. No migrants were seen jumping onboard in the footage.
Railway hopping has become a common strategy for migrants making the long treks from their homes in South and Central America to get to the US border quicker and with considerably less effort than walking
It has become so commonplace that in September Mexico’s largest freight line, Ferromex, halted operations on 60 northbound trains due to “unprecedented” numbers of migrants climbing onboard to hitch rides.
The practice saw an uptick in September, Ferromex said, and even led to “half-dozen regrettable cases of injury or death” among migrants.
Eagle Pass Port of Entry has also been forced to reduce its normal border operations in the face of the migrant surge.
On December 4, one of the two bridges crossing the Rio Grande into the US from Mexico was closed so that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers could consolidate their resources in the face of record-setting migrant arrivals.
In addition to the Eagle Pass closure, three other ports of entry across California and Arizona have also been closed “indefinitely.”
CBP figures from October alone showed 52,000 migrants had presented themselves to agents at border crossings seeking entry into the US — but that an additional 189,000 had been encountered trying to enter illegally along the hundreds of miles of remote desert border between stations.

The fiscal year 2023, which ended on September 30, saw the highest number of people apprehended trying to cross into the U.S. since officials first started keeping track in 1960 — a staggering 2.4 million people.
Those numbers have showed no signs of slowing.
On December 5, a day after the Eagle Pass closure began, 12,000 people were encountered trying to cross the southern border — a single-day record.