According to a senior U.S. official, the U.S. is set to reopen four legal U.S.-Mexico border crossings on Thursday due to a decrease in illegal immigration and the subsequent freeing up of personnel.
The reopenings will include an international bridge in Eagle Pass, Texas, two crossings in Arizona, and another near San Diego, California.
During December, U.S. border authorities faced challenges in processing migrants as apprehensions reached nearly 11,000 in a single day, which is said to be at or near a record high by several current and former officials.
After high-level U.S. officials visited Mexico to meet with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, both Mexican and U.S. officials have pledged to collaborate more closely in addressing the record migration at their shared border.
In recent weeks, Mexican officials have increased immigration enforcement, such as relocating migrants to southern Mexico and resuming deportation flights to Venezuela, according to a senior U.S. official.
An internal U.S. government report reviewed by Reuters revealed that U.S. border authorities arrested an average of 6,400 migrants per day over the past week, which represents a significant decline from the levels seen before Christmas.
Although there has been a decrease in migrant crossings, one of the U.S. officials cautioned that this is a historically common trend between Christmas and New Year’s Day. All officials requested anonymity as a condition of the call with reporters.
Officials have noted that lawmakers in the U.S. Congress are currently in discussions over a potential deal that would combine increased border security measures with foreign aid, including military funding for Ukraine.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington and Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Michael Perry)
