Border Patrol agents in the Laredo Sector of Texas continue to find more Bangladesh nationals being smuggled across the border from Mexico. Agents arrested 12 over the Easter weekend alone.

The Laredo Sector continues to lead the nation in the apprehension of Bangladeshis smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico. Over the Easter weekend, agents arrested 12 in three separate incidents, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The crossings all took place in southern Laredo where border barriers are virtually non-existent.

“It goes to show that our agents are arresting people from all over the world on a daily basis. Their intentions for entering the country illegally can only be determined after they have been arrested,” Laredo Sector Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Gabriel Acosta said in a written statement.

Acosta said his agents have arrested a total of 156 Bangladeshis since the beginning of Fiscal Year 2018 (October 1, 2017). This represents an increase of 64 percent over the previous fiscal year.

Agents arrested eight Bangladeshis during a two week period in March, Breitbart Texas reported. They crossed the border from Nuevo Laredo in two separate events on March 28 and 29, officials stated.

One week earlier, agents from the sector arrested nine after they illegally crossed from Nuevo Laredo as well, Breitbart Texas reported.

One week before that, agents in this same sector arrested seven more. The Los Zetas cartel controls human smuggling in the region.

“The arrest of these people from Bangladesh shows there is a clear pipeline through the Middle East to Mexico and on to the southern border of Texas,” Border Patrol Agent Hector Garza said in his capacity as president of the National Borde Patrol Council Local 2455. “We have been lucky to catch these groups but there is no telling how many other people from countries that sponsor terrorism could be utilizing that same pipeline.”

“This part of the border lacks physical barriers that would help prevent these types of crossings,” Garza stated. “There is nothing to stop these types of crossings.”

Garza said the National Border Patrol Council has been calling for additional barriers and manpower in this sector for years. “Right now we have no way to stop the flow of people being smuggled into the U.S. from countries that are state-sponsors of terrorism.”

The BBC reported in February that Islamist extremism has been on the rise in Bangladesh.

As far back as 2014, Breitbart Texas reported on the porous nature of the Laredo Sector.