As the sun rises in El Paso, our convoy heads up Mount Cristo Rey. We are riding shotgun with border patrol agents as they drive us along the state line, where Texas turns into New Mexico and both states border Chihuahua, Mexico.
This is the first embed given to any world news outlet by the U.S. Border Patrol since the new Trump administration took office and it’s clear, they are eager to show us how well things are going.
“This is as forward as you can be on the front line,” Agent Orlando Rubio noted as we drove up to the border wall.
A reporter’s notebook from the first Customs and Border Protection embed in the new Trump administration.
ABC News
As we make our way down the road, we run into a row of Border Patrol SUVs on the switchback roads of the mountainside. However, as we get closer, we realize agents aren’t inside those vehicles, they are filled with combat soldiers. Dozens of them from Fort Bliss dressed in their fatigues, sitting out here, just watching.
“Most of this area is heavily trafficked by smugglers,” Rubio told ABC News. “So, what we see is a lot of footpaths that smugglers use to bring people into the country.”
But the paths are eerily quiet today. Clothing and water bottles are scattered all over the mountainside, but there’s not a single person in sight.
Most of this area has a border wall in place, but on Mount Cristo Rey, there are about 1.5 miles left open. During our embed, our cameras caught crews starting construction again for the first time in nearly four years.
The metal barriers being used were likely stored away when the Biden administration halted construction on the wall in 2021. Until the new Administration can get more funding, they’ll have to resourcefully use what they’ve got left to help secure the border.
And then, something I’ve never seen along the border, a black helicopter passing over us multiple times. Rubio points and waves to it before explaining it’s federal agents from Mexico scouting the area for smugglers.
A reporter’s notebook from the first Customs and Border Protection embed in the new Trump administration.
ABC News
We are driving to check something else out when we see another group of Mexican federal agents along the border, flagging us down. In Spanish, they ask U.S. agents if there are any CBP operations running today. They got a call about a drone flying in the area and were trying to find it, but wanted to make sure it didn’t belong to Border Patrol.
This level of coordination between agents on both sides of the border is unlike anything we’ve seen.
All along the Southwest border, we’ve reported a dramatic decrease in apprehensions over the last eight months. The El Paso sector is no exception, reporting just 127 migrant encounters on Tuesday. In fact, they saw a 63% decrease in apprehensions the last few months of fiscal year 2024.
And yet, more resources and manpower are on their way. A clear effort by the Trump administration to send a strong message.
“We always need more, infrastructure and manpower, anything that can help us achieve securing our nation’s border,” Rubio adds as we drive away.
