Freight trains stopped rumbling across Texas border bridges in El Paso and Eagle Pass Monday morning, a day after US Customs and Border Protection said it would put such crossings on ice in order to move staffers there to assist with the migrant surge elsewhere. The El Paso Times reports that those CBP employees will be helping US Border Patrol with taking migrants into custody and processing them. The paper puts numbers behind the surge, reporting El Paso's online migrant crisis information dashboard had put the number of daily migrant encounters by CBP at 450 a day in May; there were more than 1,500 on Sunday.
"We continue to adjust our operational plans to maximize enforcement efforts against those noncitizens who do not use lawful pathways or processes ... and those without a legal basis to remain in the United States," CBP said in a press release. The release says this is just the latest "operational adjustment" made in the last few weeks "to maximize our ability to respond, process, and enforce consequences." The Lukeville Port of Entry in Arizona, a pedestrian entrance in San Diego, and a vehicle crossing in Eagle Pass were previously shut.
CNN interviewed US Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens, who said there were roughly 192,000 migrant apprehensions between ports of entry in November, up 2% over October's 188,000. Fox News reports there were a record 12,000 migrant encounters in a single day earlier this month. The CBP is attributing the migrant surge to "smugglers peddling disinformation to prey on vulnerable individuals." The Times notes the "potential binational economic impact" of Monday's railway closures remains to be seen. (More migrants stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
