Two Cuban citizens were detained along with seven Mexicans after illegally entering the United States in a vehicle through Big Bend National Park in Texas, reported U.S. Border Patrol Chief Rosario "Pete" Vasquez on Wednesday.
"Nine illegal foreign nationals entered Big Bend National Park in a vehicle; nine illegal foreign nationals were apprehended," Vasquez reported in a post on X that was later deleted.
However, the report was collected this Wednesday by Ali Bradley, border and immigration correspondent for NewsNation, who reproduced the content of the official post before it became unavailable.
The chief of the United States Border Patrol (USBP) specified that after crossing the border, the seven Mexican citizens and two Cubans were intercepted by agents from the Big Bend Sector at a checkpoint located on US Highway 385.
The post was accompanied by a brief video of the operation and tagged the official account of the chief of the Big Bend Sector of the Border Patrol.
The authorities did not disclose the identities, ages, or any other details about the two Cuban citizens. They also did not specify from which point in Mexico the vehicle entered, when exactly the crossing occurred, or what immigration procedure the detainees will face.
Big Bend National Park, located in West Texas, stretches for approximately 118 miles along the border with Mexico, marked by the Rio Grande. The National Park Service warns visitors that this is a border area and that the main roads leading north have checkpoints operated by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Specifically, US Highway 385, where the nine migrants were detained, is one of the main routes out of the park into the interior of Texas.
Although Big Bend is the sector with the largest geographical area along the southwest border, its migrant detention figures have been significantly lower than those recorded in sectors such as Del Rio, El Paso, and Rio Grande Valley, according to CBP statistics.
The arrest also comes at a time when Big Bend is at the center of the debate over the border policy of the Donald Trump administration, due to plans to expand security infrastructure in this protected area.
According to information from The Washington Post, in August, the CBP commissioner, Rodney Scott, ordered a temporary pause of the construction work within the park to assess the project on-site, amid criticism regarding its potential environmental impact.
In recent months, there have also been reports of arrests of Cubans attempting to enter the United States illegally through Texas.
In June 2026, several Cubans were among 39 migrants found inside a trailer that caught fire during a police chase in Texas. The incident began after the vehicle arrived at the Falfurrias Border Patrol checkpoint and was sent for secondary inspection.
That same month, the arrest occurred near El Indio, Texas, of the Cuban Lázaro Alberto Betancourt-Osorio, 44 years old, who had previously been deported twice from the United States and was found alongside six other individuals.
The new case occurs against a backdrop of tightening immigration policy and border security under the Trump administration.
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