(NewsNation) — Human smugglers at the southern border are using a system of ropes and ladders to move migrants over the border wall, exclusive NewsNation footage from both sides of the wall shows.
NewsNation captured footage of a man and two women scaling the wall using a thick yellow rope wrapped around them. They climb the ladder that their guide is standing on, and the person at the bottom lowers them down.
The moment one person hits the ladder, another emerges from the bushes. The system operates as a sort of assembly line.
The men assisting with the climb-over transfer the migrants’ phones between the slats in the wall to prevent them from falling and breaking. These phones are lifelines for the migrants, who use a pinned location to to find where they will be picked up.
Once over the wall, the migrants begin to run, listening to prompts from the guide at the top of the ladder who is using binoculars and a radio to help the individual navigate around border patrol agents.
Meanwhile, border patrol agents aren’t able to do much in this situation. Because the entirety of the wall is on U.S. soil, these men are operating freely in the U.S., restricting what agents are able to do.
The captured video shows one agent parked next to a guide on the wall, using his binoculars. NewsNation correspondent Ali Bradley witnessed agents walk up to the wall and have conversations with the smugglers.
This is all agents are able to do as they assess the situation, only being able to act once migrants cross the wall.
Retired Yuma sector border chief Chris Clem says agents must consider the situation and use force only when absolutely necessary.
“The agents have a responsibility when they see somebody make that illegal entry, but they have to take the totality of the circumstances under control. If they were to take some kind of action, whether it was, you know, officer presence, a less lethal, you know, area saturation with pepper spray, and things like that, they are now creating a circumstance where those migrants could fall off that that wall, and then engine cells are killed themselves, and then they are left with this problem. So it really creates chaos, and the smugglers know that so they’re taken advantage of every opportunity,” Clem said.
Cochise County is currently seeing two to 10 pursuits every day with drivers as young as 12 years old, according to Clem.
Sources tell NewsNation there have been roughly 638,000 gotaways and people that successfully evaded law enforcement this fiscal year.
