MISSION, Texas (Border Report) -- Wearing kevlar bulletproof vests under personal flotation devices in triple-digit heat, members of the U.S. Coast Guard packed into two boats and launched into the Rio Grande from a public boat ramp in this border town in deep South Texas.

Border Report was allowed to ride along Thursday as part of the crew's nightly patrols.

The agency, which is under the Department of Homeland Security, assists the U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to stop illegal immigration and drugs from Mexico.

That mission has increased since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and Congress nearly doubled the Coast Guard's budget — allocating about $25 billion for the agency — in the recent budget bill that Trump signed into law on July 4.

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