(WASHINGTON) — Months before the Haitian migrant surge at the southern border, Border Patrol agents on the front lines in Texas sounded alarms that Del Rio was vulnerable and resources could become overwhelmed, according to email messages reviewed by ABC News.

Despite the warnings, officials say preparations for the migrant surge only began when large waves started showing up this week. Now the Biden administration is scrambling to track, process and remove those gathered under an international bridge in the South Texas town of Del Rio that at one point ballooned to more than 14,000.

In one email to Del Rio sector management dated June 1, 2021, members of the National Border Patrol Council expressed the need for additional  measures to process migrants in the field in the event that facilities became overwhelmed. Agents offered specific suggestions including the use of digital tablets to allow for early initiation of the migrant intake process immediately after encounters with Customs and Border Protection.

In a second email days later, the Del Rio agents went so far as to ensure the tablets had wireless data capabilities with the right network provider so they could be used along the international boundary line.

The emails were sent to Del Rio Sector Border Patrol management, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security. Management responded weeks later to the June emails with a single line in red typeface:

“This is being explored, several other platforms are being considered which are more efficient.”

“The agency did indeed consider the tablets, but it never materialized into anything of substance,” said Jon Anfinsen, National Border Patrol Council vice president. “As the months went on, the groups continued to increase in size and frequency, but the temporary facilities are only now starting to come online over the past few days, after things had already spun out of control.”

Anfinsen said the groundwork for the migrant surge only began last week as the border became overwhelmed.

Asked by Republican Rep. Michael McCaul on Wednesday about the emails, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his Department does track migration in Central and South America but that the rate at which this group came together at the border was unprecedented.

“We watch the flow of individuals who are seeking to migrate irregularly through Mexico from the Northern Triangle countries, and further south we do indeed track it,” Mayorkas said. “And nevertheless, a congressman, as I previously articulated the speed with which this materialized is unprecedented.”

“Did you see this threat coming? And if so — what if anything did you do?” McCaul pressed.

“We have not seen before such a rapid migration — irregular migration — of individuals as we have observed and experienced with respect to the Haitians who have crossed the border in Del Rio Texas,” Mayorkas said. “That has been an unprecedented speed.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request to comment on the email exchange. U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to comment.

There were other early warning signs, including reports of large migrants groups moving into Panama in the early weeks of summer. Panama’s foreign minister was concerned about the mounting pressure after the country’s migration division reported a 477% increase in border crossings between January and April, according to a June report from Bloomberg News.

Haitian migrants have been leaving the island nation in large numbers since the massive earthquake of January 2010. Many moved to reside in Brazil and Chile but have faced a lack of economic stability and security in South America.

Arrests at the border have neared record levels over the summer. CBP has made more than 1.5 million arrests or detentions so far this budget year. Immigration officials point out a significant portion, sometimes as much as a third, of those arrests involve repeat offenders and the administration has taken steps to send migrants further into the interior of Mexico to prevent recidivism.

Haiti has been devastated by natural disasters and political unrest with two major earthquakes in roughly the past decade. The first in 2010 sent thousands seeking refuge in South America. A less expansive, but still deadly, earthquake last month killed more than 2,200. But this most recent quake occurred after the July 29 deadline set by the Biden administration for any Haitians to receive refuge in the U.S.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday worked to salvage his sweeping legislative agenda as Democratic infighting imperiled his ambitious goals on infrastructure, climate change, and Americans’ relationship with government into peril.

The president planned to host a series of Democratic congressional leaders and factions at the White House, with the goal of pushing two pieces of legislation to the finish line: the bipartisan $1.2 trillion physical infrastructure bill that already passed the Senate but faces challenges in the House, and a potentially much larger bill with hundreds of billions of dollars for “human infrastructure” — funding for child care, eldercare, universal preschool, free community college, combating climate change, and a host of other Democratic priorities.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters late Tuesday that she intends to put the bipartisan infrastructure bill on the floor next week — as early as Monday — for consideration, but it’s unclear if and when the lower chamber will vote on the bill.

Pelosi and Democratic leadership have urged their entire caucus to support the bill, despite the fact that the $3.5 trillion bill is still weeks away from completion and progressives have said they won’t support the bipartisan bill unless the larger social bill is passed. Historically, Pelosi is loath to put a bill on the floor that will fail, so leadership must decide soon how they intend to play this.

Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who met with Pelosi on Tuesday for 90 minutes in her office and is expected to meet with Biden later Wednesday — told ABC News that more than half of her caucus, which stands at nearly 100 members, is ready to tank the bipartisan infrastructure bill if the larger progressive bill isn’t ready by next week.

Meanwhile, moderate Democrats in both houses of Congress oppose some specific items in the larger bill — which Biden calls his “Build Back Better agenda” — as well as its overall price tag. They’ve threatened to tank that bill if significant changes aren’t made to it — changes the progressives adamantly oppose.

“Our belief is that it’s not, it’s not a random number, it’s about what we are putting into the bill and what we’re willing to take out. So if there are people who say they want a smaller bill, are they going to take out childcare or are they going to take out housing or are they going to take out climate change efforts? What is it that we’re going to take out? For us, it’s never been a $3.5 trillion bill. It’s a $0 bill, because there was plenty of money to pay for the entire thing,” Jayapal told ABC News.

With his agenda at risk, Biden planned to host Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at 2 p.m., followed by House Democratic moderates and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who has been leading the charge against the larger spending bill, according to people familiar with the meetings. Later, at 5:30 p.m., he’ll meet with Jayapal of Washington, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

“I hope he is the secret sauce,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said of Biden late Tuesday night.

“The president of the United States is always a very influential figure, and I know he wants both bills passed,” Hoyer told reporters.

Biden senior adviser Kate Bedingfield, the White House communications director, will travel to the Hill to meet with House Democrats around 3 p.m., according to a person familiar with that meeting.

Manchin has said for months he believes there should be a “strategic pause” before Congress takes up the reconciliation bill, citing his concerns about spending. His opposition to the price tag runs in tandem with Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Either one of them could tank the progressive bill from becoming law.

Separately, progressives are insisting that a pathway to citizenship is included in the bill. The Senate parliamentarian dealt a blow to Democrats late Sunday after ruling that immigration reform does not have a direct budgetary impact and therefor could not be included in the reconciliation bill.

Schumer and other Democrats expressed deep disappointment and vowed to continue fighting for new pathways to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally.

The messy legislative fight carries high stakes with next year’s midterms looming and the president hoping to chalk up a major win Democrats can point to as his approval sags after a much criticized withdrawal from Afghanistan and amid the continuing coronavirus pandemic.

Biden must also contend with a looming possible government shutdown on Oct. 1. Democrats in the House passed a short-term spending bill late Tuesday that would punt the shutdown fight to Dec. 3. The legislation also provides billions in aid for emergency disaster relief and Afghan evacuees. It also suspends the debt limit to December 2022.

But Senate Republicans have vowed to block any legislation that would lift or suspend the debt limit.

Senate Republicans say they oppose suspending the debt limit because of additional spending measures Democrats are currently crafting — even though the debt limit does not authorize new spending and is instead paying off previous debt, much of it incurred during the Trump administration.

Senate Democrats have countered that they have lifted the debt limit with Republicans under the Trump administration on multiple occasions and say it’s a bipartisan responsibility.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said if Congress does not act to raise the debt limit, the U.S. could default on its debt sometime in October, potentially triggering an “economic catastrophe.”

Republicans, led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, have said for weeks they will oppose any measure that raises the debt ceiling, insisting that Democrats can do it alone given their control over all three branches of government.

“Since Democrats decided to go it alone, they will not get Senate Republicans’ help with raising the debt limit. I’ve explained this clearly and consistently for over two months,” McConnell said on the Senate floor earlier this week.

Biden has often touted the deal-making skills he honed over decades in the Senate, and the next few days will put his abilities to the test.

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