The U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations announced on Sunday that operations at the international railway crossing bridges in Eagle Pass and El Paso will be temporarily halted due to the high number of human smuggling incidents via freight trains.
A press release from CBP states that the agency 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.”
“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 agency said.
CBP said that it is continuing to adjust its “operational plans to maximize enforcement efforts” against the unlawful migrants who are attempting to enter the United States, adding that there have already been “a number of operational adjustments in order to maximize [its] ability to respond, process, and enforce consequences.”
“In Eagle Pass, vehicular processing remains suspended at Eagle Pass International Bridge 1,” the agency noted.
According to Lt. Chris Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety, there was a record-setting 12,000 encounters with unlawful migrants at the southern border in a recent 24-hour period. However, that record was allegedly broken less than a month later.
Bill Melugin, a national correspondent for Fox News, stated on Tuesday that CBP sources told him that there were 12,600 encounters with unlawful migrants in a 24-hour period, which would set a new record once confirmed by the agency.
Gov. Greg Abbott has taken multiple steps meant to help reduce the number of unlawful migrants entering the state, including the implementation of new anti-climb barriers along the Texas-Mexico border, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. The barrier, which will also have concertina wire attached, is meant to prevent the use of ladders to climb over the border wall.
Another step Abbott took was the installation of floating barriers in the Rio Grande River, which resulted in a lawsuit between the state of Texas and the U.S. Department of Justice. A recent Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling ordered Texas to remove the barriers, since the court determined that the river is navigable. Due to this determination, the river falls under the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899, meaning the state would need federal authorization to keep the buoys in the river.
Abbott claimed he is prepared to take the lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
“We will be seeking what’s called an unbuffed ruling by the entire direct court of appeals, and if we lose there, we will take that to the United States Supreme Court because we know Texas has the right to legally deploy those buoys in the water to prevent people from entering our country and our state illegally,” said Abbott in a press release sent to The Dallas Express.