The closure of crossings on the U.S.-Mexico border has done little to stem the flow of tens of thousands of migrants and has cost the economy billions.
President Joe Biden earlier this month ordered the closure of railroad crossings in Eagle Pass and El Paso, both in Texas, so that border officials could be redirected.
Officials are stretched thin as they try to process at least 10,000 asylum seekers who come here every day claiming Mexican officials are helping them.
With so few people available to handle the massive influx, the officers who normally direct traffic at official entry points were called in to help.
The border crossing in Lukeville, Arizona, also closed on December 4 with no reopening date in sight, dealing a major blow to the local economy.
After the border crossing was closed, there are huge traffic jams waiting for several hours to cross the border into Mexico at Eagle Pass, Texas
The Biden administration is now closing legal ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border as droves of migrants attempt to enter the country
The migrants, mostly asylum seekers from South America who came to the United States, have already spent days in a grassy reservoir in Eagle Pass
According to the Texas Association of Business, Eagle Pass and El Paso alone account for $33.95 billion in annual trade and 36 percent of all cross-border rail traffic.
“This is a short-sighted, half-baked decision that will do nothing to stop illegal migration, but will cause economic harm to ordinary Americans,” said Chief Executive Glenn Hamer.
Railroad company Union Pacific said 45 percent of its U.S.-Mexico railcars passed through the two border crossings and there was not enough capacity at the other four entry points to reroute them.
“Every day the border is closed, Union Pacific is forced to embargo its customers’ goods on more than 60 trains or nearly 4,500 rail cars, with the equivalent value of the goods held in Mexico,” it said.
The company said this would impact trade in grains in six Midwestern states, beer and dry foods, sales of vehicles and their parts, consumer goods and industrial goods such as metals and cement.
Another reason for closing the border crossings was to prevent people smugglers from bringing immigrants into the United States on trains. However, Union Pacific said it had found only five migrants on its trains in the last five weeks.
Thousands of migrants wrapped in silver thermal blankets, many hoping to seek asylum in the United States, are gathered under a bridge in Eagle Pass, Texas, waiting for their chance to surrender to US Border Patrol
Once on the US side, border crossers wait in a temporary collection camp in Eagle Pass set up by the Border Patrol. Because the numbers are so high, it takes days for federal agents to screen migrants entering the United States
Nearly 10,000 migrants crossed Eagle Pass in Texas in 82 hours, the Border Patrol confirmed
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer gives food to an immigrant child waiting to be processed after crossing the border from Mexico at Eagle Pass
The city of Eagle Pass, with just 28,000 residents, gets half of its budget from international trade across the bridge to and from Mexico.
Texas State Representative Eddie Morales said the U.S. was losing about $1 billion a day due to the closure of the Eagle Pass railroad crossing.
Local businesses are also struggling to stay afloat as up to 60 percent of their revenue comes from people who typically cross the border from Mexico.
But despite the closure, according to the US Border Patrol, 14,000 migrants have crossed Eagle Pass in Texas since Sunday evening, a record number.
Jon Barela, president of the Borderplex Alliance in El Paso, said companies in the U.S. are losing $1 million for every minute of trade delays.
“We've been through this before, and once again international trade is disrupted, jobs are impacted and hundreds of millions of dollars are lost due to federal inaction,” he said.
“Delays of this nature do nothing to alleviate current inflationary pressures.”
Migrants wait in line on the banks of the Rio Grande looking for a route to the United States at Eagle Pass
Migrants walk near the banks of the Rio Grande after crossing the border into Eagle Pass
Migrants near the banks of the Rio Grande after crossing the border into Eagle Pass, Texas
“Because if there are cracks in the supply chain that lead to increased costs for critical goods such as food and grain deliveries, steel and auto parts and cars, then these are now affected.”
Barela said the impact of the border closures was not only felt along the border, but extended across the country – with six Midwestern states hardest hit.
Farmers across the breadbasket of America were unable to sell their crops, automakers were unable to get parts, and manufacturing was similarly affected.
The even longer closure of Lukeville is pushing local businesses like gas stations and restaurants on both sides of the border to the brink.
They are reducing opening hours and may have to close entirely for the duration of the crisis to stop the bleeding.
The town is the main crossing point for American tourists en route to the beach resort of Puerto Peñasco, stopping to buy food and fuel on the way there and back.
The official border crossing into Lukeville, Arizona is closed and local businesses are on the brink of closure
Migrants are lined up by border patrol officers on the banks of the Rio Grande after crossing the border into Eagle Pass
Migrants walk near the banks of the Rio Grande after crossing the border into Eagle Pass
Aerial view shows migrants trying to overcome barbed wire and fences after crossing the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras, Mexico, to Eagle Pass
As Congress debates what to do about the influx of migrants, some hardliners like Donald Trump have suggested a complete border closure.
However, this would not stop immigrants from crossing the border and would have devastating consequences for the US economy.
Food and fuel supply chains would be overwhelmed, leading to massive price increases with American consumers bearing the brunt.
Many goods would disappear completely from supermarket shelves, starting with avocados, which would become completely unavailable within a month.
Vehicle parts would also be in short supply, severely affecting car sales and leaving many drivers with broken cars that cannot be repaired.
The Mexican economy would also be thrown into turmoil, which would only increase the number of migrants crossing the border.
Aerial photo shows migrants climbing over shipping containers and barbed wire in Eagle Pass after crossing the Rio Grande
Other migrants behind them are pulled over the makeshift barrier before climbing between barbed wire
Migrants walk to a border crossing on the Rio Grande in Piedras Negras, Mexico, before crossing to Eagle Pass
A convoy of migrants wades across the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, carrying everything they have across the water
Other factors pushing migrants across the border include the effects of climate change, gang violence across Latin America, and wars and local conflicts.
Human smuggling operations are also more sophisticated than ever, and can bring migrants from Africa, India and the Middle East to the border.
Smugglers fly immigrants to Latin America and bus them to the border, where they walk through a gap in the fence or wade across the Rio Grande.
It's often easier for them to simply cut through the metal fence with an angle grinder, then attach ropes to the section and pull it off with a truck.
Knowing that the Border Patrol is overwhelmed, they brazenly cut gaps in the middle of the day, taking a break when officers show up and picking up again when they leave.
The contractors hired to repair the fence can't keep up, and cuts in the metal are visible just inches from where they were welded back together days earlier.
Migrants have been crossing Eagle Pass, Texas, in groups of hundreds since Sunday
A family from Honduras makes their way from Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, across the Rio Grande to the United States
Migrants cross the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras, Mexico, to Eagle Pass
Aerial view showing migrants crossing the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras, Mexico to Eagle Pass
A family's journey with smugglers from Guatemala to the border costs about $7,000 and takes a month.
Those who make the journey themselves must endure extortion from Mexican officials, who send them back to the country's southern border unless they are bribed and also inform migrants how to get into the UIS.
Migrants waiting in Mexico on Thursday for their chance to cross Eagle Pass told they believe the recent surge is linked to Mexican officials releasing thousands of them from shelters.
“They stopped us in Allende, Mexico (near the U.S.-Mexico border) and took us back to the Mexico-Guatemala border,” said a Venezuelan couple in Piedras Negras.
“We suffered so much just to travel through Mexico.” We were blackmailed and discriminated against by the police because we are migrants. Then we thought we were almost there and they sent us back.'
The woman said she initially thought they would be deported from Mexico or sent back to Venezuela, but to her surprise they were detained and released after about a week.
During their detention, they met many other migrants who had been detained since October.
Aerial photo shows migrants lining up at the border fence to enter the United States in Ciudad Juarez Chihuahua, Mexico
Migrants line up outside an outdoor processing center in Eagle Pass
On Wednesday afternoon, a group of about 700 migrants were assembled at the Casa Del Migrante and instructed by Mexican officials on how to get to the United States, migrants told
They were all released at the same time and eventually all headed north.
“I feel like the Mexicans are doing this to tell the US that they are doing something to stop migrants,” the woman added.
“Why wouldn’t they just deport us from Mexico if they’re really serious about preventing us from reaching the United States?”
Another Venezuelan said they had been stopped many times in Mexico by police or immigration officials of all kinds.
“It was a shock, they want money,” the man said.
“They asked us for 10,000 pesos per person.” If you had the money, they would allow you to continue your journey through Mexico. Otherwise they would send you back to the Mexican-Guatemalan border. They only care about money, not immigration.”
“We Venezuelans have a saying: If you have ever done something bad in your life, you will pay for it in Mexico.” “That was the cruelest country that ever existed.”
They all ended up at the nun-run shelter Casa del Migrante as record numbers of migrants continue to show up.
Migrants who have already stayed at the shelter for an extended period of time said those planning to enter the U.S. will be asked to wait at the shelter for a few hours after the migrants arrive.
On Wednesday evening, around 700 migrants gathered at the shelter.
A mix of emotions – joy and relief – for Honduran migrants who had completed a months-long journey to the United States and entered illegally at Eagle Pass, Texas
Photos and videos from Lukeville, Arizona, show hundreds of newcomers carrying backpacks and their meager possessions walking along the wall
A long line snakes across the gravel at the Lukeville processing center after hundreds of migrants crossed the border
A video obtained by shows Mexican officials telling migrants that they will be guided down to a specific part of the river where they will be told where the water is shallow so they can cross.
“It's all a hoax.” “(Mexican officials) are trying to make it seem like they're helping stop migrants, but they're the ones telling us how to get there,” one migrant said.
“And there are more to come. Hundreds more are on their way here right now.”
Most migrants cross the border and immediately turn themselves in to officials so they can apply for asylum and remain in the U.S. during processing.
They calmly stroll to a processing center and wait in single file for officials to examine them and hand them papers for temporary residency.
Many are being released immediately or moved to cities like nearby Tucson, but southern states have also loaded tens of thousands onto buses and sent them to sanctuary cities in northern states like Chicago and New York.
There were 130,000 attempts to cross the U.S.-Mexico border in the first 17 days of November, and there have been at least 167,000 so far in December.