U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will suspend operations at international railway crossing bridges in two Texas cities along the southern border in response to the recent resurgence of smuggling organizations using freight trains to move migrants through Mexico to the U.S. border.
In a statement released on Sunday, CBP officials said beginning at 8 a.m. on Dec. 18, the agency’s Office of Field Operations will suspend operations at the international railway crossing bridges in Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas in order to redirect personnel to assist U.S. Border Patrol with taking migrants into custody.
“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 statement read. “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.”
The move comes just days after thousands of migrants were seen on video, lined up along railroad tracks as a freight train passed nearly three hours south of Eagle Pass, Texas.
Border Patrols have been overwhelmed as they deal with unprecedented numbers of migrants, which, last Tuesday, topped 10,000 in a single day.
The week prior, there were reportedly 12,000 migrant encounters on a single day, breaking daily records and still at levels overwhelming agents in the field.
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