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• Border Patrol agents in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley told Business Insider they encounter migrants daily who have endured horrific crime and hardship on their journeys to the United States.
• Business Insider joined the agents for a ride-along on Monday. Though we didn’t see any arrests, the agents said a typical shift often results in multiple encounters with migrants and smugglers.
• The sector that Seiler and his colleagues patrol has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks — it’s the epicenter of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” border crackdown.

MCALLEN, TEXAS — Every day, Border Patrol agent Chris Seiler says he hears astonishing stories of hardship from the people he arrests crossing the US-Mexico border.

“It’s part of the job,” he said.

Border Patrol agents brought Business Insider on a six-hour ride-along on Monday in the heart of Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings along the entire US-Mexico border.

It was a quiet shift with no arrests, but the agents emphasized they usually have multiple encounters with migrants, smugglers, or both.

The Rio Grande Valley has the highest number of Border Patrol arrests along the entire US-Mexico border. In fiscal year 2017, the area accounted for a whopping 45% of all Border Patrol apprehensions.

Many of the migrants who cross the border in the valley have been traveling through Mexico for days or weeks, and have endured horrific conditions. Seiler, the special agent in charge of the Rio Grande Valley Sector’s special operations detachment, ticked off a list of common stories he’s heard.

“Non-potable water, zero to no food, sexual abuse, raping, robbing, pillaging,” he said, adding that the smugglers who guide the migrants have little concern for their welfare. “Anything [smugglers] want to do, they can.”

Seiler said he feels bad for many of the victims he encounters — especially those who have been raped or abused — but they have to arrest the migrants regardless. And since most of the crimes they hear of take place back in Mexico, there’s little they can do to find the perpetrators.

“You see these people come across, and they live very tough lives,” he said. “But our job, the execution of our duties, is to keep you safe.”

‘The guy’s a ghost’

Seiler said agents do take note of any information they can regarding crimes against migrants, and they pass it to their counterparts in Mexico. But it’s often a dead end.

Further complicating the investigations is the fact that many of the victims have little to no details to offer about their assailants.

They often report vague descriptions like “a 28-year-old Hispanic” who may have attacked while the migrants were being held in “a house south of the border.”

“That’s the information I have, and we have no jurisdiction over there,” he said. “You can’t report it — the guy’s a ghost.”

The sector that Seiler and his colleagues patrol has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks, as the epicenter of the Trump administration’s border crackdown. President Donald Trump’s recently halted “zero tolerance” policy culminated in the separation of thousands of migrant families, most of whom still haven’t been reunited.

Seiler said he’s well aware of the media attention being focused on the migrants — but he wants Americans to understand what Border Patrol agents face, too. He said many agents are affected by the stories they hear and the things they witness — especially the dead bodies they pull out of the Rio Grande River to identify.

“They talk a lot about the aliens and the things the aliens go through every day,” he said, referring to unauthorized immigrants. “But the piece they’re missing is everything the agents go through.”

Michelle Mark contributed reporting from New York.