US border overwhelmed by migrant surges in three states, closing international bridges and causing chaos
Border Patrol forces in California, Texas and Arizona are so overwhelmed by the thousands of migrants surging into the US, they’re having to take drastic measures to deal with them.
Crises have emerged in four areas, according to local sources and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), closing one of the two international bridges at Eagle Pass, Texas, border station to all traffic since Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, an international crossing at Lukeville, Arizona, was also closed down.
The closures were undertaken “in order to redirect personnel to assist the US Border Patrol with taking migrants into custody,” CBP said.
Elsewhere along the southern border, similar drastic measures were taken to address surges at other hotspots.
The Tuscon Sector, which covers most of the the Arizona-Mexico border, halted its social media accounts Sunday to utilize all its personnel in addressing the “unprecedented flow” of migrants, sector chief John R. Modlin announced.
“All available personnel are needed,” Modlin said, later adding “To be clear, it is my intention to remain transparent.”
Modlin had previously revealed his agents had made 15,300 apprehensions across their border sector in just one week, as well as making three drug busts, capturing 117 lbs. of fentanyl headed for the US.
CBP figures showed 52,000 people had presented themselves at border crossings along the Southwest border for entry into the US in October, a figure far eclipsed by the 189,000 who were encountered attempting to illegally cross into the country between points of entry in the same month.
Erika Pinheiro, executive director of migrant services at legal aid company Al Otro, told The Post the cartels and people smugglers deliberately change tactics and send migrants to different areas to test for weaknesses in US border patrol coverage.
“[It’s] kind of like a game of whack-a-mole. People first went to the Rio Grande, then they were in Yuma and then El Paso,” Pinheiro said.
“It really depends on which countries the migrants are coming from and how the smuggling networks are working at the border.”
In California, new barriers are being erected along the banks of a canal north of the border in the San Ysidiro district of San Diego, where migrants have increasingly been staging stampedes into the country.
The barriers stretch along the banks of the Tijuana River where it crosses into the US through a shallow concrete-laid canal, which masses of migrants have been using to swarm across the border in large groups.
Half a mile of fencing is also being erected along the river banks on the Mexican side, according to Border Report.
About 60 miles east in the barren swaths of desert around Jacumba Hot Springs, an “unofficial” border station has cropped up, according to the LA Times, where agents have begun tending an encampment that has become a temporary home for hundreds of migrants from around the world.
At Jacumba, the border fence is interrupted by rocky terrain which leaves gaping openings for migrants to cross through.
So many people have come through the openings CBP has begun posting agents in the area who hand out supplies and organize transfers to official processing centers.
California has become the epicenter of the latest surge of migrants arriving at the border in recent weeks.
Since mid-September alone, over 40,000 migrants have been processed through the San Diego sector, coming from countries as far flung as China, India, Turkey and Romania.
Those towering numbers cap off a record-setting series of months in San Diego.
In the 2023 fiscal year ending on September 30, more than 230,000 migrants crossed along the sector — a 20-year high in the area.
Just two months ago, the crisis was so bad in Eagle Pass, Texas, where two bridges cross the Rio Grande into Mexico, that Bridge 1 was again closed to divert CBP resources to address the more than 10,000 migrants who were arriving in the city daily, according to Border Report.
That closure persisted for almost a month and wrought havoc on the flow of commerce in the city.
At least $500,000 in trade revenue during the closure in September, Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas Jr. said.
