© ReutersIllegal migrants line-up against the southern border wall near the bank of the Rio Bravo River between El Paso and Juarez, Mexico
In a Friday statement, Custom and Border Protection (CBP) announced 'temporary suspension' at the busy Bridge of the Americas (BOTA) port shared between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. There was no specification in the statement on when the port will return to normal operation, just a note that CBP would do so 'as quickly as feasible.'
'The temporary suspension at BOTA will allow CBP's Office of Field Operations officers to assist the U.S. Border Patrol in processing noncitizens who have arrived between the ports of entry including vulnerable populations like families and unaccompanied children,' CBP said in the Friday statement.
The statement continued: 'CBP regularly plans for and executes contingency measures, such as this, to support the overarching agency mission and ensure the safety and wellbeing of those in the agency's custody.'
Shocking footage emerged Monday showing thousands of migrants illegally crossing the Rio Grande River from Mexico into Texas in Eagle Pass - despite President Joe Biden's new program allowing asylum seekers to apply for entry at legal ports.
Nearly 500 miles away from Eagle Pass in El Paso, a similar surge was experienced as 1,700 migrants crossed in a 24-hour period.
The migrants would then line up along the border wall and surrender to officers to then claim asylum in the US. About 500 asylum-seekers mainly from Venezuela lined up at El Paso on Monday, reported KVIA.
© ReutersHundreds of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, weather a thunderstorm along the banks of the Rio Grande
It was March 2021 when Biden pleaded with those thinking of making the journey to the U.S. 'do not come' with the threat of 'consequences' for those crossing illegally.
'I can say quite clearly: Don't come. We're in the process of getting set up, don't leave your town or city or community,' Biden said as his administration was breaking records monthly for the number of illegal crossings.
The new CBP One app allows migrants to apply for asylum on their phones and schedule an appointment to legally enter the U.S. at a port of entry to make their asylum claims.
For months the program worked at avoiding the shocking images of illegal entrances, but did little to actually decrease the number of migrants entering the country.
BOTA usually operates from 6:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. from Monday through Friday. But CBP notes that 'during the suspension of service, members of the trade community may consider the nearby Ysleta, Santa Teresa, or Marcelino Serna (Tornillo) cargo facilities as alternative entry points.'
More than 2,200 people crossed the river from Coahuila into Eagle Pass in a tactic pushed by drug lords to deliberately overwhelm CBP.
By tying up crucial resources, it leaves Mexico's cartels free to carry out human trafficking and smuggling operations uninterrupted. As midnight approached, the group could be seen in the video wading through the deep waters to reach the other side, much to the surprise of some local Mexican residents.
One could be heard on camera exclaiming how only a small portion of the group were crossing at that one moment - with hundreds more following behind.
By the time daylight arrived, the group were being rounded up by Border Patrol as they huddled under a bridge in Eagle Pass.
The footage was shot in Piedras Negras, the Mexican town which lies directly across the river from Eagle Pass.
The flagrant breaking of immigration rules took place next to the port of entry as those crossing the border thumbed their noses at the Biden Administration.
This latest wave of migrants who are mainly Venezuelan are believed to have traveled up through Panama.
Similar scenes have been witnessed along the border with towns and federal processing centers are now at overcapacity as a crush of crossings cripples the nation .
Last week there were more than 7,000 illegal crossings across the U.S.-Mexico border over several days.
Over the last week the Rio Grande region has seen a spike in encounters with 1,200 on average coming over each day. 4,200 migrants are being housed in local hotels rather than shelters.
© ReutersHundreds of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, weather a thunderstorm along the banks of the Rio Grande
'The way it's being orchestrated through the cartels, I believe it's meant to overwhelm the system. The [places] that are being impacted the most are border communities,' former El Paso City Councilmember Claudia Rodriquez told The New York Post.
No street releases have been made in the El Paso region unlike in California and Arizona.
Last week, photos depicted at least three white unmarked Border Patrol buses filled with migrants parked in San Diego. It led to several hundred people being released onto the streets. One migrant was even told by an agent: 'You're free to go on and do wherever you want. You're free.'
He asked: 'It's no problem if I go to Chicago?'
'You can do whatever you want,' the official replied.
Border Patrol in San Diego has reportedly been dealing with 20,000 migrants in custody last week - 5,000 more than facilities can manage.
It can't accommodate more than 15,000 migrants and migrants are being released onto the streets to fend for themselves after being processed at the border.
Similar migrant releases took place in Tucson, Arizona, with agents coming across 2,000 people a day and dealing with packed shelters.
In Texas, State Representative Eddie Morales says the migrants made the trek by hopping on trains.
'It's obviously a security issue, we have concerns over their safety and we need to address this in the most - expeditious manner,' Morales said to News4SA.
'Under U.S. immigration laws, most non-citizens coming to our border are not eligible to remain in the United States. Asylum laws do not provide for relief solely for economic reasons or for general violence,' U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) tweeted on Monday.
After the public health order known as Title 42 was lifted in May 11, CBP says the U.S. 'returned to fully enforcing Title 8 immigration authorities to expeditiously process and remove individuals who arrive at the U.S. border unlawfully and do not have a legal basis to stay.'
Texas Congressman also Terry Gonzales also shared similar frustrations.
'Eagle Pass is completely overrun right now. El Paso is getting overwhelmed right now. Arizona is getting overwhelmed right now.
'The only way we can regain control of the southern border is by enforcing the laws that are on the books. That's exactly what the administration needs to do. That's exactly what Congress needs to focus on.
'All Americans deserve to feel safe in their own communities and right now they do no. A lot of folks see it on TV and they think it will never happen to them. Well I'm here to tell you it's already happening, whether you're in New York, whether you're in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles.
'These folks that are coming over illegally, they're coming to all parts of the country. It's only going to get worse.'
© ReutersA freight train, packed to capacity with migrants, has been captured on video as it travels at full speed toward the Mexican border with the United States
Astounding footage of the FerroMex train was shot as the locomotive with hundreds in tow could be seen coming out of the Central Mexican city of Zacatecas as it made its way northbound on the 750-mile journey toward the U.S.
Container after container could be seen filled with migrants getting an easy ride as the goods train zoomed by.
There was whistling and cheering from those on board as the group hitched a ride. Some of the travelers could even be seen hanging out from the sides of the train.
The train was headed for the U.S. southern border - where in the southwest, roughly 2 million migrants have already made their way into America in 2023. Border towns have been crushed by the influx thanks to the lax border policies of the Biden administration.
The migrants looked to have prepared themselves for a long journey with many having erected tents and canvas over portions of the containers in a bid to shield themselves from the elements.
The videos comes as the latest figures from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol show a rise in the number of encounters with migrants at the Southern Border.
In July there were almost 184,000 migrant crossings into the U.S. - up from 144,000 encounters with border patrol from June.
Although the figures rose on a month-by-month basis, the numbers are still well below that of previous years when in 2021 and 2022 more than 200,000 crossed into the U.S. from Mexico.
The U.S. border has seen a flood of migrants from across the world, not just Central and South American nations such as Venezuela and Mexico. There have been migrants from China and other places entering via the porous southern border.
© U.S. Customs and Border PatrolRecent data from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reveals an increase in encounters with migrants at the Southern Border between June and July of 2023.
In 2023, through July, there have been 1,973,092 - many of them coming as Title 42 expired.
The number of migrant crossings in August is set to exceed 230,000, according to Fox News.
Most migrant encounters are single adults, at 64.9 percent, but almost 600,000 are individuals in a family unit and there have been 109,298 unaccompanied minors crossing the border.
Issues of overcapacity are happening all across the southern border. Along with Tucson - street releases are happening in the San Diego sector and in Santa Cruz County, California.
Texas has also been using razor wire to block migrants illegally entering as it battles a challenge from the Biden administration seeking to stop it from building a buoy barrier in the Rio Grande.
The Lone Star State has also been busing migrants to 'sanctuary cities' such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles in order to give border towns some relief.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott argues that Texas cities have carried the weight of illegal immigration and 'sanctuary cities' need to share that burden.
'Texas has bused over 35,000 migrants to self-declared sanctuary cities,' he wrote earlier this month on Twitter.
'Over 11,300 to D.C., over 13,300 to NYC, over 6,700 to Chicago, over 2,600 to Philadelphia, over 1,000 to Denver, over 480 to LA.'
People from the African nations of Senegal, Mauritania, Ghana, Sudan are part of the migrants who have recently made crossings into the U.S. from Mexico.
Cochise County, Arizona, is being slammed with waves of migrants bussed from other counties after crossing the border amid President Joe Biden's lax policies.
'The intellectual avoidance and abandonment with intended consequences' by those leaders in Washington, DC, reference our southern border continues to be a slippery slope for those doing everything we can to protect our quality of life here in Cochise County!' Sheriff Mark Dannels said.
'The migrants being released are from outside Cochise County but were bussed to Cochise County, processed and then released,' Daniels noted in a Facebook post.
'I applaud the local [Customs and Border Protections] agents and their leadership for doing all they legally can during this on-going crisis.'
It's unclear exactly how many migrants the processing facilities in Tucson can accommodate or how many have been transported to other locations such as Cochise County.
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