According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, a second migrant crossing along the southern border with Mexico has been temporarily closed.
The officials claim they are “temporarily suspending operations” in Lukeville, Arizona, due to “increased levels of migrant encounters.” The suspension covers northbound and southbound pedestrian and vehicular traffic at the Lukeville Port of Entry.
They hope that this decision will free up the operation agents, which in return, will help Border Patrol agents arrest and process the new arrivals. The announcement arrives just as Texas temporarily shut down a crossing at Bridge 1 in Eagle Pass earlier this week. Unsurprisingly, they also gave the same reason.
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The change has been in effect in Arizona since Monday, December 4. The CBP promises to redirect personnel from its Office of Field Operations in Lukeville to assist border security. However, he used an interesting term.
He plans to help with “taking migrants into custody.” This suggests that harsher punishments may await migrants in the future. Nevertheless, migrants who intend to cross at the Lukeville entry in Arizona can still do that. But only via the Nogales Port of Entry or the San Luis Port of Entry.
In the past fiscal year, there have been over 2 million border encounters.
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These people have to endure some of the harshest conditions just to make it to the US, but not all who begin the journey finish it. As it stands, migrant deaths have increased by 2,383% over the last six years.
The Border Patrol made about 17,500 arrests for illegal crossings during the past week in the agency’s Tucson sector. That equates to a daily average of 2,500. This is well above its daily average of 1,700 in September, when Tucson was already the hub for illegal crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Customs and Border Protection is blaming the multitudes arriving daily around Lukeville on “smugglers peddling disinformation to prey on vulnerable individuals.” It is currently unclear how long the crossing will be shut.
Arizona Senators Mark Kelly, Kyrsten Sinema, and Governor Katie Hobbs call the closure “unacceptable.” They are unhappy with the closure and demand better solutions from President Joe Biden’s administration.
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They said in a joint statement, “This is an unacceptable outcome that further destabilizes our border, risks the safety of our communities, and damages our economy by disrupting trade and tourism.
The Federal Government must act swiftly to maintain port of entry operations, get the border under control, keep Arizona communities safe, and ensure the humane treatment of migrants.”
Customs and Border Protection said it uses “all available resources to expeditiously and safely process migrants” and will “continue to prioritize our border security mission as necessary in response to this evolving situation.”
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