By A standoff between hundreds of migrants and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in riot gear rocked the border town of El Paso over the weekend as the two sides faced off on the Paso Del Norte international bridge connecting the border down to the Mexican city of Juárez.
USA Today wrote that “there were also temporary disruptions when groups of migrants showed up at two other border bridges in El Paso, a border protection spokesman said in a statement. Barricades were used at the Stanton Bridge from 2 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. and at the Bridge of the Americas from 2:45 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
At the Paso Del Norte Bridge, officers stood behind concrete and plastic barriers topped with barbed wire blocking the border at the middle of the top of the bridge before what appeared to be hundreds of migrants.
The migrants, who were of various nationalities but mainly Venezuelans, were demanding entry into the U.S. amid rumors that the border would be opened for express asylum, the Norte Digital news website reported from Juárez.
Some of the migrants could be heard on videos during the bridge rush saying Customs and Border Protection’s online asylum application launched this year was not working properly.”
Hundreds of migrants had been gathering on the Mexican side of the bridge in the morning, which only led to chaos as the day went on.
A local news crew from Los Angeles captured the scene on video.
BREAKING: Our contact in Juarez, MX tells us a massive group of at least 1,000 migrants just attempted to rush a port of entry in El Paso in an effort to get into the United States. Video shows them pushing past the Mexican side of Paso Del Norte bridge. Awaiting CBP comment. pic.twitter.com/lxriIB3TSm
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) March 12, 2023
The Daily Caller reports, “Hundreds of migrants attempted to storm the border and enter the U.S. via the Paso Del Norte Bridge in Juarez, Mexico, Sunday afternoon, according to U.S. officials and video of the event.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) used “port hardening measures” to “temporarily” stop the group from entering, the agency said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. While it’s unclear what caused the rush Sunday, the attempt to cross en masse comes amid a record surge in migrant encounters across the southern border.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) used “port hardening measures” to “temporarily” stop the group from entering, the agency said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. While it’s unclear what caused the rush Sunday, the attempt to cross en masse comes amid a record surge in migrant encounters across the southern border.
CBP encountered more than 2.3 million migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2022 and more than 870,000 between October 2022 and January 2023. Amid the influx, the Biden administration has increased migrant traffic at the U.S. ports, where many of them can apply for exemptions to Title 42 expulsion, the Trump-era public health order used to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, via a phone application known as CBP One.”
“CBP is working to maintain the legal and orderly flow of entry to the U.S. while protecting the safety and security of legitimate trade and travel, CBP facilities and the CBP workforce,” CBP said in a press release responding to the event.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a statement obtained by The Hill that the group was “posing a potential threat to make a mass entry.”
CBP continued, saying that they “implemented port hardening measures” at the Paso del Norte International Bridge at about 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, halting traffic. They also said that they used physical barriers to prevent entry before traffic on the bridge resumed later Sunday evening.
“CBP is working to maintain the legal and orderly flow of entry to the U.S. while protecting the safety and security of legitimate trade and travel, CBP facilities and the CBP workforce,” the statement said.
El Paso has been a focal point of the border crisis over the past year. Last December, as temperatures dropped to deadly levels, the Mayor of El Paso, Oscar Leeser, a Democrat, declared a state of emergency as dozens of illegal immigrants released by the Biden Administration’s Department of Homeland Security have been left to sleep on the streets of the city, risking death by freezing as temperatures dropped below 30 degrees.
The El Paso Times reported, “Though Leeser has long resisted issuing a state of emergency declaration, he said Saturday the move would allow the city to tap into much-needed additional resources, which will only become more necessary with the Dec. 21 end to Title 42 expulsions.
This past January, President Biden visited the border town for a photo op and to declare that there was not a problem and that our eyes were deceiving us when we saw videos and pictures of thousands of immigrants crossing the border.
The president purposely went when border crossings typically drop.
“Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said his 18,000 members had been waiting two years for Biden to come and see what they had to deal with every day.
He said the White House knew what it was doing with a January visit.
The number of daily encounters had dropped from about 7500 a couple of weeks ago, he said, to about 3300 now — a seasonal pattern that happens every year,” according to The Daily Mail.
“Biden has all those figures. He knows all the trends. He knows when the best time to come to the border. And he knows that the beginning of January is absolutely the best time,” he said.
[Read More: Biden Bails Out Big Tech While Middle America Pays For Inflation]
