Smugglers have changed their target, and as a result, Texas is seeing a growing number of undocumented immigrants come through its border. Now, the Border Patrol is looking for ways to fight back.

According to an internal agency report obtained by AP, the Border Patrol made over 148,000 arrests in the most southern part of Texas from Oct. 1, 2013, through May 17, 2014. The Rio Grande Valley area received 1,100 arrests per day on average from May 11-17. Mexicans represented the fourth biggest number of those arrests, after Hondurans, El Salvadorians and Guatemalans.

At this rate, the arrests will match those of last year in just eight months. Of course, the number of undocumented immigrants enterting the country illegally is likely much larger. The AP's numbers only represent those arrested; there are still people entering the country illegally who don't get caught. In Tucson, Arizona, which southern Texas passed in immigration arrests for the first time last year, the Border Patrol made just 63,000 arrests in the same time frame.

"I don't think we have anywhere near the resources that we would require to even make a dent in what we've got going on here," Chris Cabrera, a McAllen Border Patrol agent and local vice president of the agents' union, told AP. "I think it's common knowledge that we don't have the resources. That's why they're coming in droves like they are. They're exploiting a weakness that they've found, and quite frankly they're doing a good job of it."

This weakness is not helped by the reported financial burden that this trend has placed on Texas. According to a 2014 report by the controversial Federation for American Immigration, undocumented immigration costs the state billions despite the undocumented paying an estimated $1.27 billion in taxes annually.

"There are about 1,810,000 illegal aliens residing in Texas -- 70,000 more than resided in the state in 2010 when we estimated the fiscal burden at nearly $8.9 billion annually," the report read. "In 2013, illegal immigration cost Texas taxpayers about $12.1 billion annually. That amounts to more than $1,197 for every Texas household headed by a native-born or naturalized U.S. citizen."

Last month, sector Deputy Chief Raul Ortiz said he was planning on hiring more agents. Meanwhile, the number of Drones in the Texas area has reportedly increased and is currently at 58 percent density, "third from the bottom of the Southwest border," according to AP.

Related