US to reopen these border crossings as illegal immigration drops

WASHINGTON – The authorities in the United States announced on Tuesday that the country will reopen four legal U.S.-Mexico border crossings on January 4 as high levels of illegal immigration have declined. 

As announced by Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. is reopening international bridges in Eagle Pass, Texas, two crossings in Arizona, and another near San Diego, California.

In addition, Mexican and U.S. officials promised to collaborate closely to address the high number of people crossing their shared border.

As explained by a senior U.S. official on Tuesday, Mexico has increased efforts to enforce immigration laws, like relocating migrants southward and restarting deportation flights to Venezuela, signals which helped the reopening of border crossings.

Furthermore, U.S. border authorities reported a significant decrease in daily migrant arrests, averaging 6, 400 over the past week, a visible drop as compared to the previous weeks.

In December, U.S. border authorities faced challenges processing migrants, with daily apprehensions reaching almost 11, 000, reported to be near or at a record high.

The measures come days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and President Biden’s homeland security adviser, Liz Sherwood-Randall, traveled to Mexico and met president  Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

The immigrants have been using innovative strategies to cross the border prompting the Biden administration to discuss the issue with Mexican train companies as migrants opted for riding on top of commercial trains in Mexico.

In an attempt to curb the increasing influx of migrants, the United States took measures this month to temporarily close several border crossings, which notably included the closure of two railway bridges. This comes as the issue of migration is being widely debated in the power corridors due to the impending presidential elections.

The issue of immigration is a hot topic not only in the US but in countries like the Uk and France. The UK is discouraging even legal migration and has amended its laws recently while the French President has also introduced legislation in this regard to visibly discourage migration.