NPR

As Migrants Stream In At The Border, Inland Checkpoints Feel The Strain

"They're making a run at us every day," says one Border Patrol agent who runs a checkpoint an hour's drive north of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Border Patrol agents with a sniffer dog at the new and expanded Falfurrias checkpoint.

The surge of Central American migrants crossing into the U.S. isn't just taxing border agents and the nation's immigration system — it's straining interior checkpoints like one on Highway 281 in Texas.

An hour's drive north of the U.S.-Mexico border, the new and expanded Falfurrias checkpoint is on a major route for traffickers shepherding people or drugs north.

"They're making a run at us every day," says Border Patrol agent Tom Slowinski, who's in charge here. "No other checkpoint anywhere on the Southwest border catches more alien smuggling

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