Border Patrol warns Biden that 'overwhelmed' staff can't cope with 'crisis' levels of immigration: Agents reveal how migrants are heading for US because they 'hear on the news we are letting people in' - as cartel warfare breaks out on border   

• Brandon Judd says the National Border Patrol Council is 'overwhelmed'
• 'A week ago I would not have called this a crisis. Today it meets the definition.'
• Jaeson Jones, a former Texas Border Security Captain, said that the gun battle erupted between the Cártel del Noreste and Cártel del Golfo near Roma, Texas
• Just across the Mexican border from Roma is a town called Ciudad Miguel Alemán where two cartels have been embattled for years
• An immigrant named Nelson said he had decided to come to the United States after he saw news that immigrants were being let in, according to a Fox report

A Border Patrol chief said the flood of immigrants trying to cross into the US is at 'crisis' levels - as a gun battle erupted between two gangs and a Honduran migrant said he was encouraged to come after watching the news.

Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, told Fox News that the situation has become an emergency over the past week, despite the White House maintaining it is not a crisis, just a 'big problem.

Judd said: 'A week ago I would not have called this a crisis. Today it meets the definition. We are overwhelmed. We do not have the resources to stop the cartels from bringing in illegal aliens, from bringing in drugs, therefore we are in fact in a crisis.'  

The alarm comes as President Joe Biden's own Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, warned things would get worse before they would get better - as he predicted a continuing surge of apprehensions at the border, despite Biden refusing to commit to a visit.

The harsh 'zero tolerance' approach of Donald Trump dashed the dreams of hundreds of thousands hoping to escape poverty and violence in Central America, but Biden's humane approach has sparked a rush to the country. 

So far this fiscal year, which began on October 1, US Customs and Border Protection has recorded more than 396,000 migrant crossings compared to 201,600 during the same period last year, the New York Times reported. 

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Officials made their comments as Fox News reported that a gun battle had taken place near the community of Roma, Texas between two rivaling cartels.

Jaeson Jones, a former Texas Border Security Captain, said that the shootout erupted between the Cártel del Noreste and Cártel del Golfo while he was 'sitting on the bluffs' nearby. 

'We were sitting on the bluffs at 7.40 this morning when a large gun battle broke out,' Jones told Tucker Carlson.

Just across the Mexican border from Roma is a town called Ciudad Miguel Alemán where two cartels have been embattled for years, Jones said.

Video taken earlier in the day shows gunfire ripping through the air.

'It's important that the American people know that what is happening down here is broader in scope than people just crossing the border,' Jones said.

He said the gun battles have been heard by border agents between two and four times a week, each lasting as long as an hour and a half.

Meanwhile, an immigrant named Nelson told Fox News during a segment for Tucker Carlson's show that he had decided to come to the United States after he saw news that immigrants were being let in.

'I listened to the news that they were letting people in,' he said through a translator.

Nelson said he had not heard Biden's message that now is not the time for immigrants to come to the United States.

Fox News spoke to Nelson in Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas. It was not immediately clear if Nelson was on his way to the border or had been turned back.

A senior Customs and Border Patrol official, who asked the outlet to remain anonymous, said: 'The president understands it is a crisis which is why he told migrants "don't come over".'

Republicans are accusing Biden of opening the country's doors to illegal border-crossers and sparking a 'crisis' on the US-Mexico frontier, marked in Texas by the meandering Rio Grande.

They say Biden's easier approach toward immigrants will exacerbate Covid-19 and let 'terrorists' in, as House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy claimed Monday.

The White House, however, has continued to refuse to call the situation a 'crisis,' instead labeling it a 'big problem.' 

The President sat down with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos for an interview in which he told migrants not to enter after the influx of thousands since he came to office.

'Yes, I can say quite clearly: Don't come over,' Biden said.

In the same interview, Biden said he was coming up with a process for migrants to apply for asylum to the United States from their home countries.

'So don't leave your town or city or community,' Biden said.

His comments came as a Honduran mother-of-two who was attempting to illegally enter the country from Mexico drowned after she tried to swim around a border fence.

Yuri Ríos was accompanied by her brother-in-law, José Dueñas, when the pair were separated by a strong current in the Pacific Ocean beach waters in Tijuana on Saturday. 

In his show, Sean Hannity pointed to a clip from a Democratic debate in September 2019 in which Biden said: 'I would make sure there we would immediately surge to the border all those people that are seeking asylum.'

'They deserve to be heard. That's who we are. We're a nation that says if you want to flee and you're fleeing oppression, you should come.'

Advisors who visited the border provided Biden with detailed briefings 'with photos' on the conditions inside government holding facilities, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday. 

Psaki was asked at her daily press briefing why Biden did not have plans to visit the border amid the immigration surge. 'Because his focus is on action,' said Psaki, a day after Biden said he didn't have plans to go 'at the moment.'

She said Biden has been briefed on conditions by his team, including officials who traveled there in recent days. 

'He talks to plenty of officials. He also has received a briefing with photos, and directly from his team that went and visited the border,' she said.

She then confirmed to DailyMail.com that Biden has specifically been shown photographs from inside facilities where unaccompanied children are being held upon arrival. The administration has confirmed in some cases they are held for more than the three days that federal law limits for such facilities.

Meanwhile Donald Trump said the current influx of migrants is 'destroying our country', accusing Biden of having 'eroded' the successful system he put in place, and warning that the situation was going to get worse. 

Trump told Fox News his policies 'were working better than they have ever seen on the southern border,' and boasted of his strong relationship with Mexico's president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

He said they had a shared interest in stemming migrant flows, which are now surging under Biden.

'They are destroying our country,' said Trump.

'People are coming in by the hundreds of thousands. Young children are coming in and they leave their homes and they come up because they think it is going to be so wonderful. And, frankly, our country can't handle it.'