VIEW LARGER The Lukeville port of entry lay empty on Dec. 5, 2023, a day after the federal government closed the direct route to Rocky Point in order to move personnel to help with a surge of migrants. Blas Nuñez-Nieto, assistant secretary for border and immigration policy at the Department of Homeland Security, says the decline in border apprehensions is typical of this time of year.
“That has allowed us to get the operational capacity we need to reopen these ports of entry,” he said. “And that reduction may be a result of seasonal trends. We usually do see a decline in encounters this time of year. And it could also be the result of coordinated enforcement actions that we are taking with the government of Mexico over the last couple of weeks.”
The U.S. and Mexico had talks last week about ways to address root causes of migration, binational efforts to disrupt criminal networks, and how to better manage the flow of migrants. Nuñez-Nieto said the decisions to close ports of entry are not taken lightly.
“We fully appreciate the impact that it has on border communities and on the economies of both countries and so we are hopeful that the stepped up actions by the government of Mexico will help us better manage the flows we’re seeing at the border,” he said.
Nuñez-Nieto says they’re also hopeful that bipartisan conversation in the Senate will lead to a solution to some problems with the immigration system. Ongoing border security negotiations in the House are stalled due to disagreements between Democrats and Republicans.
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