Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 500 migrants from the continent of Africa since May 30. The numbers jumped after large numbers of African migrants adopted a strategy of crossing in large numbers. On Wednesday, a group of 34 African migrants crossed the border illegally near Eagle Pass, Texas.

Eagle Pass Station agents apprehended a group of 34 illegal aliens from Africa on June 5, according to information provided to Breitbart Texas by Del Rio Sector Border Patrol officials. On May 30, large numbers of African migrants who had been waiting in Mexico to cross at ports of entry changed their strategy and began crossing illegally in the largely-unsecured Del Rio Sector. The first group to cross included 117 African migrants, mostly from the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Angola, officials stated.

In a press call on Wednesday afternoon, Brian Hastings, U.S. Border Patrol Chief of Law Enforcement Operations, told reporters this was the first large group “ever recorded in Border Patrol history solely from Central and South Africa. We’ve never seen that demographic in a large group of that size before.”

Two weeks before the illegal crossings began in the Del Rio Sector, hundreds of African migrants gathered near an international bridge in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, to protest not being allowed entry into the U.S. through a legal port of entry, Breitbart News reported. The group complained that Cuban migrants are being given preferential treatment.

Since that time, multiple groups of African migrants, mostly family units, crossed in the same area in large numbers. On June 5, agents apprehended another group of 34 African migrants bringing the total to more than 500 in less than a week.

“The introduction of this new population places additional burdens on processing stations, to include language and cultural differences,” Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Raul L. Ortiz said in a written statement. “Our agents continue to meet each new challenge as the ongoing humanitarian crisis evolves.”

“Del Rio Sector’s total apprehensions to date this year are in excess of 33,000, already more than double the total number of arrests made during the previous fiscal year,” sector officials reported. “More than 27,000 of the individuals arrested this year, over 80 percent, are from approximately 38 countries other than Mexico.”