Eventually, economic pressures overcame migration pressures. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced Friday that train crossings between Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, will be restored. This canal has been closed to rail traffic since December 18th due to a huge increase in the number of migrants on Mexico's northern border who wanted to use this freight transport to cross to the United States. The employers' association of the Mexican Republic (Coparmex) denounced last Wednesday that this decision by the authorities caused companies to lose millions of dollars.
In the statement, CBP assured that the restructuring of its personnel was carried out with the support of Mexican authorities after “observing a recent turnaround in smuggling organizations transporting migrants through Mexico.” They also stated that rail service on the Eagle Pass Bridge will resume this Friday at 2 p.m. However, Customs has insisted that border security is its priority. “We will continue to assess the security situation, adjust operational plans and increase resources to maximize law enforcement efforts against those non-citizens who do not use legal channels or processes such as CBP One, and those who do not have a legal basis to be in the United States “States,” the document says.
Mexican Ambassador to the United States Esteban Moctezuma Barragán celebrated the restoration of train service between the two Texas cities, through which, according to Coparmex, goods worth $100 million are transported every day. The Mexican employers' association stated that the conditions were felt primarily in the Mexican agricultural sector, as more than 25% of the corn and more than 60% of the soybean paste used for livestock feed and the industry in general are imported to the United States by train . “With this decision, they recognize the complementarity and integration of our economies, as well as the importance of production chains that should not be interrupted,” explained the ambassador through his social networks.
Today, CBP announced the restoration of railroad crossings #EaglePass And #StepTexas.
With this decision, they recognize the complementarity and integration of our economies and the importance of production chains that should not be interrupted.
Is in…
— Esteban Moctezuma Barragán (@emoctezumab) December 22, 2023
At the beginning of December, the US Border Patrol announced the closure of several border points. The first to be affected by the measure was the intersection of San Ysidro in California and Lukeville in Arizona, but it was not long before other important points for migration and trade were added. CBP claimed that the decision to close the border crossings allowed it to redirect its personnel to assist the Border Patrol in detaining migrants.
The move coincided with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's announcement that there had been an unusual increase in illegal border crossings over the past month. In the first week of November there were 53,016, in the first week of December there were 69,462, an increase of 31%.
This situation has sparked a humanitarian crisis, leaving thousands of people stranded on both the Mexican and American sides. South of the border, despite the threat of attacks, kidnappings, murders and rapes by criminal groups, many migrants continue to look for ways to cross the border in the winter cold. In the north, unofficial estimates put between 3,000 and 5,000 of those who managed to sleep outside on a vacant lot in Eagle Pass while awaiting clearance.
Meanwhile, López Obrador announced in his morning conference this Friday that he had a telephone conversation with Joe Biden in which the issue of migration was discussed, a constant thorn in the side of US-Mexico relations. “The number of Venezuelan, Haitian, Cuban and Ecuadorian migrants has increased, which has limited the proper functioning of customs crossings. For this reason, we will help find agreements,” said the Mexican president.
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