Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents arrested eight more Bangladeshi nationals after they illegally crossed the border in south Laredo. The arrests occurred in an area where agents arrested more than 230 Bangladeshis this fiscal year.

“They are not trying to hide or escape,” Laredo Sector Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Gabriel Acosta told Breitbart Texas in a phone interview. “They walk right up to an agent and claim ‘credible fear.'”

The Laredo Sector accounts for more than 60 percent of Bangladeshi nationals arrested along the entire southwest border with Mexico, Acosta explained. “They are paying more than $25,000 to the smugglers to be transported through Mexico into Texas.”

Several Laredo Sector agents have expressed concern to Breitbart Texas about the illegal crossings by people who are smuggled from countries with active ties to terrorism. In addition to the more than 230 Bangladeshi nationals captured this year, Laredo Sector agents arrested two Syrian nationals earlier this month.

“We don’t know the intentions of the two Syrians we caught sneaking across the border into Texas,” U.S. Border Patrol Agent Hector Garza told Breitbart Texas in his capacity as president of the National Border Patrol Council 2455. “What we do know is that if the cartel-connected smugglers can bring people with good intentions across the border, they can also bring people with bad intentions.”

“Laredo is a prime target for these ruthless smugglers because of our sector’s shortage of manpower and the lack of a physical barrier,” Garza explained in an interview with Breitbart Texas on Thursday. “We have 170 miles of river border with Mexico. Not one mile of that border has a physical barrier. We are wide open for these drug and human smugglers.”

In a recent interview with Atlanta’s Fox5, Laredo Sector Acting Chief Patrol Agent Jason Owens said, “We have 170 miles of border with Mexico in the Laredo Sector alone. Right now, we have zero border wall.”

Laredo Sector officials report that it only takes minutes for smugglers to cross someone over the river into Texas via a makeshift raft or floats. From there, the human cargo swiftly disappears into nearby stash houses until it is their turn to be transported northward to San Antonio, Houston, and points beyond.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, GAB, and Facebook.

(Disclosure: Breitbart Texas sponsored the Green Line podcast for the NBPC in an effort to provide a platform for agents to inform the public about the realities on the border and what Border Patrol agents face. Director Brandon Darby received an award from the Laredo chapter of the NBPC for his work in helping to defend and bring a voice to Border Patrol agents. Breitbart News assisted in covering funeral costs for a slain Border Patrol agent previously.)