The van crashed on U.S. Highway 281 in Encino, which is about 50 miles north McAllen and about two miles from the Falfurrias Border Patrol checkpoint, according to Sergeant Nathan Brandley of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Washington Post reported.

Brooks County Sheriff Urbino Martinez told Border Report that a high number of migrants are trafficked through this area as they head north from the checkpoint. Falfurrias reportedly is the largest checkpoint on the Southwest border.

Brandley said that the van has a capacity of 15 passengers but was holding 30 people, including the driver who attempted to divert off the highway to 281 before losing control of the vehicle and crashed into a pole and a stop sign.

A spokesperson from the Texas Department of Public Safety told Newsweek that the driver was traveling north on the U.S. 281 in the outside lane when, according to a witness, the driver attempted to turn right at an unsafe speed and veered off the road. The driver and nine passengers were pronounced dead at the scene.

Others were taken to hospitals, including McAllen Medical Center, Edinburg Regional Hospital and Spohn Kleberg, the spokesperson added.

On Wednesday, it was reported that nearly 7,000 COVID-positive migrants have been released into the city of McAllen since February and more than 1,500 in the past week.

McAllen said in a statement that it has set up temporary shelters in response to the surge of immigrants.

In July, U.S. authorities encountered roughly 210,000 people at the Southwest border, according to preliminary data gathered by the Associated Press from Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy David Shahoulian.

“Generally, what you see is that the up and down in the spring and summer is way high and then it goes down toward the end of fall and winter,” Tony Payan, director of the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, told Newsweek. “But the numbers now are spectacular, and we haven’t seen them in a long time.”

July’s preliminary total of 210,000 would stand as the highest in the past 20 years. And while Payan said some of the numbers might represent people crossing multiple times, it still indicates an ongoing rise.

President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he will continue rejecting migrants’ entry at the border for an indefinite period, citing concerns about the spread of the Delta variant. This policy forces people back to Mexico or their home country without receiving the chance to apply for humanitarian refuge.

The Brooks County Sheriff’s Office didn’t immediately respond to Newsweek’s request for comment.