US Closing Remote Arizona Border Crossing, Citing Overwhelming Migrant Arrivals

So many migrants are crossing from Mexico into the United States around remote Lukeville, Arizona, that U.S. officials say they will close the port of entry there so that the operations officials who watch over vehicle and pedestrian traffic going both ways can help Border Patrol agents arrest and process the new arrivals.

Customs and Border Protection announced Friday that the temporary closure of the crossing will start Monday as officials grapple with changing migration routes that have overwhelmed Border Patrol agents stationed there. Arizona’s U.S. senators and governor called planned closure “unacceptable.”

Customs and Border Protection said it is “surging all available resources to expeditiously and safely process migrants” and will “continue to prioritize our border security mission as necessary in response to this evolving situation.”

The area around the desert crossing has become a major migration route in recent months, with smugglers dropping off people from countries as diverse as Senegal, India and China. Most of them are walking into the U.S. west of Lukeville through gaps in the wall, then head east toward the official border crossing to surrender to the first agents they see in hopes for a chance at asylum.

The Border Patrol made 17,500 arrests for illegal crossings during the past week in the agency’s Tucson sector, John Modlin, the sector chief, said Friday, That translates to a daily average of 2,500, well above its daily average of 1,700 in September, when Tucson was already the busiest corridor for illegal crossings by far along U.S.-Mexico border.

Customs and Border Protection blamed the hundreds of people arriving daily around Lukeville on “smugglers peddling disinformation to prey on vulnerable individuals.”