Bishop Evans: A guard has gone missing after attempting to help migrants who were drowning.

A member of the US National Guard has been identified as the man who went missing while attempting to help two migrants who he thought were drowning near the Mexican border.

Bishop E Evans, 22, went lost in Eagle Pass, Texas, after entering the Rio Grande on Friday.

The two migrants made it out alive and were apprehended.

In the last six months, over one million migrant "encounters" - apprehensions and expulsions - have been registered on the border, a 20-year high.

Authorities are still looking for Mr. Evans, who has been a member of the Texas National Guard since May 2019 and has previously served in Kuwait and Iraq, according to the Texas Military Department.

Due to heavy currents, dive crews searching for Mr. Evans were forced to cease their activities on Saturday. On Sunday morning, rescue operations were restarted.

Mr. Evans was assigned to Effort Lone Star, a border security operation unveiled last year by Texas' Republican governor, Greg Abbott.

Thousands of state troopers and soldiers of the Texas National Guard have been deployed to guard the state's 1,200-mile (1,920-kilometer) border with Mexico as part of the multibillion-dollar effort.

Mr. Evans, according to Mr. Abbott, "is a hero who risked his life in service to Texas and America."

Mr. Evans reportedly removed his jacket and radio before rushing into the river to save the two migrants who were in difficulty, according to local media accounts.

The two migrants "were involved in criminal transnational drugs trafficking," according to the Texas Military Department, and were hauled into custody by US Customs and Border Patrol over the weekend (CBP).

The International Organization of Migration anticipated in December that at least 650 migrants will die attempting to cross the border in 2021, the highest number since the organization began tracking deaths in 2014.

While Border Patrol officials have previously stated that many of the deaths are due to heat, many more people die while attempting to cross the Rio Grande.

According to a sheriff in Maverick County, where Eagle Pass is located, around two drownings each week are reported.

According to CBP statistics released this week, agents made more than 209,000 arrests along the border in March, increasing the six-month total to more than one million.

Officials have warned that the elimination of Title 42, a pandemic policy that allowed migrants to be quickly ejected from the US, may result in a major surge of up to 18,000 migrants per day.

The coverage will expire on May 23.