A migrant with bolt cutters snipped a wire border fence Sunday then led dozens of migrants through the hole — only to be turned back to Mexico by National Guard troops.
The Post observed as the migrants pulled fencing away and pushed through the state’s concertina wire barrier near a gate in the wall, entering the US illegally, near El Paso in Texas.
Footage of the incident taken by The Post showed guardsmen appearing and blocking the migrants, and directing them away from the gate, which is not a legal port of entry, and back to Mexican territory.
The area where the incident took place is close to Gate 36 — the spot where more than 100 people bum-rushed the border and Texas National Guard soldiers last Thursday, which has become a known area frequented by migrants seeking asylum in the US.
Razor wire and fencing has been erected near the border by troops from the National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety to discourage people from crossing into the US illegally and to instead turn themselves in at points of entry.
During Thursday’s attempted incursion, the group of migrants knocked over five guards who tried to stand in their way.
Following that incursion, Texas authorities arrested Honduran national Junior Evaristo-Benitez, 21, and charged him with assault on a public servant, a 3rd degree felony, Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Sergeant Eliot Torres said in a statement shared with The Post. Evaristo-Benitez is currently being held in the El Paso County Jail.
The state is also reviewing video footage of the incident to determine which migrants were involved and the possible charges against them include criminal mischief, property damage, assaulting soldiers and inciting a riot.
Authorities also confiscated knives and shanks from the migrants who stormed the border Thursday, a National Guard source told The Post. At least one migrant tried to grab a soldier’s firearm during the tense situation.
Some of the troops who responded to the group Thursday were treated at a nearby hospital for minor injuries.
Migrants continue to be released from Border Patrol custody, including one who boarded a plane Saturday to Houston bearing an ankle monitor provided by federal authorities.
Luis, from Venezuela, crossed the border Thursday with the group of rioters, he told The Post.
“I don’t like what they did. I stayed behind. I was there, but behind them. They made the mess,” Luis, who was making his way to Atlanta, told The Post of the group of migrants who overpowered Texas National Guard troops.
Border Patrol spokesman Orlando Marrero-Rubio told Border Report migrants who cross at Gate 36 illegally face potential removal from the country and a five-year entry ban. The federal government, however, continues to allow thousands of migrants who cross into the US illegally to stay and pursue asylum claims.
Between October and February, Border Patrol released more than 592,000 migrants on humanitarian grounds into the country, according to federal data.