Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended the largest single group of migrants in the sector so far this year when nearly 300 surrendered in a matter of hours near Granjeno, Texas.

McAllen Station agents patrolling near the border town of Granjeno shortly after midnight Wednesday morning encountered a large group of migrants who crossed the Rio Grande River and were walking toward a levee. The agents observed hundreds of people, including families and unaccompanied minors, who had just illegally crossed from Reynosa, Mexico. In total, the agents apprehended 289 persons.

The agents transported the migrants to the McAllen Border Patrol Station for processing.

Throughout the sector, agents apprehended more than 1,000 migrants on this single day.

During the month of February, Rio Grande Valley agents apprehended 14,448 Family Unit Aliens and 2,904 Unaccompanied Alien Children, officials reported. The Rio Grande Valley is consistently the busiest sector of the nine southwest Border Patrol sectors.

When combined with the El Paso Sector, the second busiest sector this month, the two Texas-based sectors apprehended an average of nearly 900 migrants family members each day, Breitbart News reported.

Agents assigned to the El Paso and Rio Grande Valley Sectors apprehended an average of 891 Family Unit Aliens (FMUA) per day in February. This represents an increase of more than 570 percent over last February’s 132 daily average, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Southwest Border Migration Report released last week.

“Smugglers and traffickers have caught on that the outdated laws, lack of resources, and bad court decisions effectively give them a ‘free ticket’ into America,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Neilsen told the House Homeland Security Committee last week. “Make no mistake: the problem is getting worse.”

The crisis along the southwest border is not confined to Texas-based sectors. Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 750 migrants in the Arizona desert over the weekend. The migrants exploited outdated vehicle barriers and simply walked across the border, officials reported. Many of the nearly 750 Central American migrant families required medical attention after completing the dangerous journey through Mexico.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for the Breitbart Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Face book.