Border Patrol agents have apprehended as many as 19,400 migrants at the border in Lukeville, Arizona, as officials continue to struggle to stem the record influx.
John R Modlin, chief patrol officer at the Tuscon sector of the border, said Friday The nearly 20,000 apprehensions include 13 human trafficking events, 15 rescues, six narcotics cases, four convicted sex offenders and 155 federal criminal cases.
A total of 192,000 migrants were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border last month, up from the 188,000 apprehended in October, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens said. CNN.
The latest wave of migration is fueled mainly by people from Africa and Ecuador, and a large majority are single adults Newsnation reporter Ali Bradleywho shared stunning footage of a large number of migrants being ushered through a port of entry in Lukeville.
Migrants walk along the banks of the Rio Grande after crossing the border into Eagle Pass, Texas, one of a number of border towns hampered by this year's massive influx of migrants
The official border crossing into Lukeville, Arizona, is closed and local businesses are on the brink. A border official says as many as 19,400 migrants have been apprehended in the city this week.
The latest wave of migrants crossing the border in Lukeville, Arizona (pictured) is reportedly made up of mostly single adults from Ecuador and Africa
Congress has been locked in a hostile debate all year over how to defuse the crisis at the border and is about to go on Christmas recess with details still to be worked out.
But Bradley said on
As Lukeville struggles to accommodate the influx, President Biden earlier this month ordered the closure of all railroad crossings at Eagle Pass and El Paso, both in Texas, so border agents can be rerouted to other ports of entry.
However, this has done little to turn the tide, as in many places with high immigration pressure, agents are still receiving little more than 10,000 asylum seekers per day.
Amid claims that Mexican officials may be helping transport migrants to the US, officials normally charged with regulating traffic at border crossings have been moved elsewhere.
Honduran migrant Arile Nunez, 25, bottle-feeds her son Edwin, 8 months, as they walk along the bank of the Rio Grande River after crossing the border from Mexico into Eagle Pass, Texas
Nancy Guzman, 40, comforts her daughter Jackeline Hernandez, 18, as she is apprehended by Border Patrol after wading across the Rio Grande River
The staggering number of migrants crossing the border every day is nearly unprecedented, matched only in the days before Title 42 — a pandemic-era immigration policy — expired in May.
Title 42 gave agents stronger powers to arrest and convert migrants at the border, and when it ended, it was feared that the last “meaningful, real plan” to control immigration had been broken.
As experts warn the southern border is nearing a “breaking point,” Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador have called to discuss how to stop the crisis.
It was reported that both agreed that more needed to be done south of the border to stem the endless tide of migrants, many of whom traverse difficult terrain and cross several borders in the hope of ending up in America .
A mix of emotions – joy and relief – for Honduran migrants who completed a months-long trek to the US and entered illegally at Eagle Pass, Texas
Migrants are lined up by border patrol on the banks of the Rio Grande after crossing the border into Eagle Pass
A family from Honduras makes their way across the Rio Grande River to the US from Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico
A convoy of migrants wades across the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, carrying everything they have above water
Although the latest wave of migrants reportedly traveled from Africa and Ecuador, a significant number of migrants crossing the border this year have left Venezuela.
The country has been hit by serious economic problems in recent years, and by February this year more than seven million residents had left the country of 29 million.
While the vast majority of the seven million have opted for neighboring countries, many have found their way to the US. From 2015 to 2018, only about 100 Venezuelans were stopped at the border each year.
From October 2021 to August 2022, that number was 150,000.
As problems at the border have stopped trains to cities like Eagle Pass, local economies are now bearing the brunt.
A long line snakes across the gravel at the processing center in Lukeville after hundreds of migrants cross the border
Aerial view of migrants climbing over shipping containers and barbed wire in Eagle Pass after crossing the Rio Grande
Eagle Pass and El Paso together account for $33.95 billion in commerce annually, and 36 percent of all cross-border rail traffic, according to the Texas Association of Business.
“This is a short-sighted, half-baked decision that will not make a dent in illegal migration, but will cause economic damage to ordinary Americans,” CEO Glenn Hamer said.
Railroad operator Union Pacific said 45 percent of its U.S.-Mexico rail cars passed through the two border crossings and there was not enough capacity at the other four entry points to divert them.
“Every day the border is closed, Union Pacific is forced to embargo customer goods on more than 60 trains, or nearly 4,500 rail cars, while an equivalent amount of goods are held in Mexico,” the report said.
The company said this affected trade in grain in six Midwestern states, beer and dry food products, sales of vehicles and their parts, consumer goods and industrial raw materials such as metals and cement.