EAGLE PASS, Texas — The group of immigrant women with three young children in tow slowly made their way to the U.S. on a small stretch of the Rio Grande led by a one-armed coyote smuggler, braving a treacherous route and evading checkpoints of cartels along the way.

They put it all on the line because they knew the Trump administration — and she nonsense new border tsar — would soon be in charge at the border.

“It’s a risk,” one of the Venezuelan women told The Post moments after slipping into the country and into the waiting arms of Border Patrol agents.

“Because many of us enter out of necessity, or because we are politically persecuted, or because we have problems with violence in our country.”

The woman, wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt, said she thought the former president would be re-elected, so she and others in her group hurried across the border – knowing the time they had with the absent border czar, Vice President Kamala Harris, in charge. it ends.

Asked if she thinks she’ll be deported once President-elect Trump is in office, she grimly admitted that “it can happen” and admitted that his return to the White House has sped up their entry program.

She said she spent five months in Mexico City trying unsuccessfully to get an appointment with CBP One – a Biden-Harris administration application designed to allow asylum seekers a legal path to America which was exploited by criminal migrants and gang members.

“I’ve never had an appointment … and I decided to risk it and see what happens,” she said.

Days after the election, officials on both sides of the US southern border are bracing for a last-minute mad rush of thousands of migrants before Trump takes office, officials say.

An average of 300 migrants still illegally flood into Eagle Pass each day — and although foot traffic has slowed considerably since its peak — down about 86 percent, officials say — the Lone Star State is still bracing for the possibility of “mass” crossings . before border control changes hands.

“People know the window is going to close, so I think the nonsense will hit the fan in December and January,” said a Border Police source, noting that agents are being “hit hard” by smugglers bringing in migrants on dirt bikes .

“We’re waiting for those last-minute groups to get across the border before Trump comes in. It’s already starting,” said another border official.

The current garrison includes Mexican and US immigration officials who have gathered on both sides of the border in the Eagle Pass area – a main artery for migrants entering the US under the Biden administration’s lax enforcement policies.

Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Chris Olivarez told The Post that smugglers from Mexico have directed groups of illegal migrants into areas where state troopers do not have the authority to make arrests.

“Those groups are moving into areas where most of them are federal lands, which means there’s a lot more Border Patrol working there,” Olivarez said.

“So these groups are looking for Border Patrol agents. They don’t want to meet a DPS trooper or a National Guard trooper because they know they won’t let them through.”

The Border Patrol, on the other hand, will follow the current Biden administration policy and take them in for screening. Because the group The Post witnessed arrived as a family unit, they will likely be released to the U.S. with dates to appear in immigration court.

These days, more migrants are trying to evade law enforcement and are increasingly breaking into private farms — and a new presidential administration could be the reason why that’s picking up again, Olivarez said.

“Now they’re starting to realize that it’s a lot more difficult now not only to get into Texas, but because of some of the consequences and some of the rhetoric in the new administration,” he explained.

On the other side of the border, Mexican Immigration and the Mexican National Guard were seen patrolling the area north of the International Bridge – another main thoroughfare for migrants crossing illegally.

A U.S. border agent told The Post that Piedras Negras — a stone’s throw from Eagle Pass — receives up to 30 migrants a day for appointments made through CBP One.

Border law enforcement officials have praised both President-elect Trump and incoming border czar Tom Homan, who have vowed that mass deportations of migrants are on the books.

“(Trump) comes with a new star. I’m glad (Homan) is what’s moved up the chain of command. He used to work for the Border Patrol. I’m glad he knows the immigration laws and knows all the things that need to be done for deportations,” Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber told The Post.

He questioned the logic behind the current administration, which has let millions of migrants cross the border with seemingly little regard for where they get to or how they get there.

“There are a lot of people here who have come all of a sudden. We don’t know what’s here, people who have no skills, no education, nothing like that. It is a burden on the government. It’s a burden on the government because who pays for all this stuff?”

Schmerber said that while county law enforcement is ready and willing to help the new administration, a lack of resources limits their ability to put significant depth into the problem.

“We run the border and we have people coming here from the other side with drugs and criminals, so I have to take care of the security of the county … we work with the DEA, we work with the other federal agencies as much as we can, but it’s not a job with full time,” he shared.

“It’s whenever we have the opportunity to work with them, but we don’t have the manpower and we don’t have the technology, the computers and so on. We’re here to help, but we can’t take over a job, especially with immigration. My employees are not familiar with the laws or anything like that.”