Staggering video captured a confrontation between U.S. Border Patrol agents and illegal immigrants attempting to force their way into the United States at the New Mexico border near El Paso, Texas.
Aerial images shared by the Texas Department of Public Safety Green-uniformed Border Patrol agents on foot and all-terrain vehicles are seen racing toward the border wall as it crowds on the Mexican side on Thursday.
At least a half-dozen men on the Mexican side climbed the border barrier, which measures between 19 and 30 feet high, using a makeshift ladder.
As agents began detaining the immigrants, smugglers who were paid to smuggle them in began throwing rocks, sand and even water bottles at federal agents, which is a crime under U.S. law.
A full water bottle is thrown over the wall in an effort to prevent immigration agents from doing their job.
Aerial images taken from a Texas DPS helicopter assisting the US Border Patrol captured the confrontation between federal agents and illegal immigrants.
In another strange scene, a second bottle of water is given to a man perched atop the border wall.
He appears to consider throwing it at an agent, before handing it to another man, who instead opens it and takes a sip.
Later, a border officer on an all-terrain vehicle lowers the ladder to prevent others from climbing the border wall.
A smuggler sitting on top of the wall clings to him and resists.
He and the agent engage in a tug-of-war, and the smugglers eventually give up before retreating to their country.
The US Border Patrol attempts to detain immigrants entering the US illegally, as smugglers atop the border wall throw sand, rocks and water bottles at officers.
Smugglers perched atop the border wall threw water bottles at agents below.
The incident occurred near the Santa Teresa port of entry in New Mexico, less than ten miles from Texas.
The Border Patrol’s El Paso sector is currently the third busiest border crossing along the southern border with Mexico, behind the San Diego and Tucson sectors.
The region includes the city of El Paso in West Texas and all of southern New Mexico.
Migrants crossing into the neighboring state of Texas are not seeking to surrender peacefully to Border Patrol agents.
An unknown number of illegal immigrants were detained
Border Patrol agent struggles to remove ladder from smugglers
Instead, the Santa Teresa area is a known smuggling site, where migrants not seeking asylum seek to evade Border Patrol agents entirely.
In the most recent figures released by the federal agency, 30,393 migrants crossed the border in the El Paso sector in April.