Two rail bridges carrying freight between Mexico and Texas are being closed by the Border Patrol to try and stem the ‘recent resurgence’ in cargo carriages being used by migrants.
It is not the first time the bridges have been closed, but the economic impact is severe: in September, a three-day closure left $1 billion worth of produce sitting idle in trains stuck on either side.
The bridges into El Paso and Eagle Pass will close from 8am on Monday, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency said on Sunday – their latest drastic measure to try and reduce the arrivals.
The CBP said that they were closing the bridge because smugglers were using the freight trains with increasing frequency to transport their human cargo. The trains are extremely dangerous for migrants, with many clinging to the sides and falling, losing limbs and breaking bones.
‘CBP is continuing to surge all available resources to safely process migrants in response to increased levels of migrant encounters at the Southwest Border, fueled by smugglers peddling disinformation to prey on vulnerable individuals,’ the agency said on Sunday.
‘After observing a recent resurgence of smuggling organizations moving migrants through Mexico via freight trains, CBP is taking additional actions to surge personnel and address this concerning development, including in partnership with Mexican authorities.’
Migrants are seen riding on the top of freight trains through Mexico in September this year. At least half a dozen fell and either died or were severely injured, forcing Mexico to halt the trains. The Texas crossing is now closing due to migrant numbers
Dramatic footage shows thousands of migrants lining the train tracks in Mexico three hours from the border, hoping to catch a ride to the US line
The latest video shows migrants lining up, hoping to catch a freight train as it’s about three hours south of Eagle Pass, Texas
They did not say how long the freight bridges would be closed.
The move comes after a record number of migrant encounters were recorded earlier this month, with 12,000 people detained in one day.
The Tucson, Arizona area has seen 17,500 encounters in a single week – the highest weekly total ever recorded.
On Tuesday, dramatic video showed migrants lining up, hoping to catch a freight train about three hours south of Eagle Pass.
The migrants – including several children – stand alongside the tracks as the train races through Piedras Negras, Mexico.
The migrants can be seen looking for a chance to jump on: it’s unclear if any managed to scramble aboard.
It is not the first time the trains have been held up to stop migrant crossings, and allow CBP staff to focus on another area.
In September, 60 northbound cargo trains run by Mexico’s Ferromex were stopped south of Ciudad Juarez, after about half a dozen migrants were killed or injured.
In response, Texan authorities then shut the Eagle Pass crossing – the second busiest in the U.S. – for three days.
Union Pacific, which manages the route, said 24 trains with 2,400 cars total were being held north and south of the border due to the stoppage.
An estimated $1 billion in produce was stuck at the border – agricultural goods, food, beverages; finished vehicles; consumer goods; and industrial products.
In recent weeks the CBP has closed the Lukeville port of entry in Arizona; a pedestrian entrance in San Diego; and a vehicle crossing in Eagle Pass.
The Lukeville decision has forced many who attempt to traverse the border legitimately to consider an illegal crossing instead of an eight-hour delay.
‘There’s so many people that are so upset seeing all these 10,000 illegals coming in a day, and they’re coming through a wall that the cartel cut a hole in,’ said Robin Miller, who lives nearby.
‘And they’re just coming in, coming in.
‘Yet us people with passports [who] are legal to go to the states, we can’t go.’
Migrants are transported by the US border patrol after crossing the border wall into the U.S. from Mexico, as the number of migrants surges in the border town of Lukeville
Cynthia Lowe usually takes the legal route to visit her family and now she may just break the law, as she sees so many others doing to get to them in time for Christmas.
‘I’m seriously contemplating walking through the hole in the wall and having my kids pick me up on the other side,’ she said.
‘I have one of two choices. I can go through the wall, like everybody else is doing, or I can go through Nogales.’
The humanitarian and growing economic crisis has prompted both Senators from Arizona to call on President Joe Biden to send National Guard troops in to re-open the port of entry.
‘For far too long, Arizona communities have paid the price for Washington’s failures on the border,’ Arizona Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly said in a joint statement Tuesday.
‘This decision is an unacceptable outcome that further destabilizes our border, risks the safety of our communities, and damages our economy.
‘Our ports of entry are key drivers of economic growth and security in our state, and it is critical that they be properly staffed and resourced.’
Governor Katie Hobbs has also asked Biden to redirect some 200 National Guard members already in the Tucson area to Lukeville.
In Arizona, where at least one entry has been shut down to legal traffic, Americans may attempt to get back into the US illegally instead of what would be an eight-hour round trip
The closing has turned what should be a 30-to-60 minute trip into a six-to-eight hour one
‘There’s so many people that are so upset seeing all these 10,000 illegals coming in a day, and they’re coming through a wall that the cartel cut a hole in,’ said Robin Miller, who lives nearby
She has demanded $512 million from the federal government to repay what the state has spent on the border crisis.
Now, Biden may finally be willing to play ball with Republican leaders to implement what they want done at the border.
Biden’s adversaries want him to combine a $100 billion package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with more funding for the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration reform.
Their proposal would effectively reinstate Title 42, allowing officials to pause asylum law without a public health emergency, just seven months after the Biden administration finally ended the pandemic-era policy first put in place by then-President Donald Trump.
The move has many Congressional Democrats – including progressive Squad members – enraged.
Biden said during a White House press conference on Tuesday that he has ‘offered compromise already’ to Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Despite the reports, Biden said at the White House on Tuesday that GOP lawmakers ‘holding Ukraine funding hostage in an attempt to force through an extreme Republican partisan agenda on the border is not how it works’
El Paso’s border agents are already at their limits, with just over 4,000 migrants in custody in the city
The city claims they’re encountering nearly 1,000 migrants each day, with most of them being released
The video shows the migrants crossing the border through multiple locations after getting past the Rio Grande
A migrant family from Venezuela reacts after breaking through a razor wire barricade into the US, following hours of waiting on a river bank on the Rio Grande river
At least 20 House Democrats – including members of the squad – replied in a back-and-forth on X over the last week saying they would vote against a supplemental bill for immigration overhaul
The Biden administration told lawmakers, according to a new CBS News report, that the president is looking at more hardline policies at the southern border that would give into some of these Republican demands – including streamlining deportations and expanding detentions and expulsions.
Four people familiar with the talks said that White House informed Senate Democrats it could back a sweeping immigration policy change as part of Biden’s negotiations.
If agreed to, the new package would also include money to bolster border enforcement and hire more immigration officials.
Republicans have made the border crisis and loosening of immigration policies a centerpiece of their criticism against the Biden White House.