Radio ads promise path to American dream, border patrol agent says
CBP Assistant Chief Border Patrol Agent Jose Martinez gives FBN's Maria Bartiromo a first-hand look at the immigration issue at the U.S. border with Mexico.
A border patrol agent said radio advertising in Central American countries promises help to those looking to achieve the American dream by crossing the southern border.
“The word is definitely out,” CBP Assistant Chief Border Patrol Agent Jose Martinez told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on Monday, during a ride along tour of the border in El Paso, Texas.
He said most of the people attempting to enter the U.S. illegally come from the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Others are making their way from Nicaragua and Cuba. After they make it onto U.S. soil, Martinez said, the illegal immigrants are headed to major metropolitan areas such as Atlanta Dallas, Houston, Boston, and New York.
“This area is probably the busiest area in the country at the moment, with illegal entries,” he said of the El Paso region.
Most of the illegal immigrants making it pass the southern border are looking to find an agent to turn themselves in for processing, according to Martinez.
“They want to get processed, given the papers, then they go north and they have legal papers to be wherever they’re going to be at,” he said.
Several people crossed over during Bartiromo’s tour of the border, including families with children, and two sisters aged 8 and 10, travelling alone. They told Martinez their mother left to get food and never returned.
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Martinez said the Mexican drug cartels are winning because they are familiar with the border and its vulnerabilities.
“All I can do, is do my job and do it to the best of my ability,” Martinez, a father of two, said on “Mornings with Maria.”