Video Shows Migrants Crossing Through Border Wall Gate, Smuggler Claims CBP Involvement
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) – A newly surfaced video shows a border wall gate opening as a group of people crosses from Juárez, Mexico, into El Paso, Texas, raising concerns about security vulnerabilities and potential corruption.
The footage, obtained by ABC-7 from content creator and journalist Luis Chaparro, was first released on his Spanish-language newscast, Pie de Nota. The video shows migrants running from the Rio Grande to the border wall, where they crouch before a gate slowly opens. After waiting for approximately 15 seconds, the group moves through the opening into the United States. A white van is seen parked nearby, and one individual runs back toward Mexico. In the background, the X monument in Juárez is visible.
Smuggler Alleges CBP Collaboration
Chaparro said he obtained the video from a smuggler who was later arrested by Mexican authorities. The smuggler claimed that their organization was working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to facilitate crossings, alleging that CBP agents receive a portion of the money paid by migrants. According to Chaparro, migrants pay smugglers up to $10,000 per person to help them cross the border.
The smuggler reportedly filmed the video in March 2023, and a security camera monitoring the gate has been nonfunctional since then. Sources within Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and CBP in El Paso told Chaparro that some border surveillance cameras have been nonfunctional for several years.
A recent on-site inspection found that while many cameras along the border wall appeared operational, the camera near Gate 28—where the video was recorded—remains inoperative.
Smuggling More Profitable Than Drug Trade
Chaparro reported that smugglers are now making more money from human trafficking than drug smuggling, particularly cocaine. These profits allow criminal organizations to offer substantial bribes to border agents, further enabling illegal crossings.
ABC-7 has reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for comment and is awaiting a response.
