Customs and Border Protection is shutting down three highway checkpoints in Arizona as personnel move to instead deal with the increase of migrants on the southern border.
“Tucson Sector has redirected manpower, based on operational needs in response to shifting traffic patterns, resulting in the closure of several tactical checkpoints in southeastern Arizona,” CBP told Fox News.
“We expect to reopen these checkpoints as manpower and activity levels dictate,” the statement continued.
Three checkpoints in Wilcox, Arizona, will be closed until further notice, according to an internal document obtained by the outlet. Closing the checkpoints will set back anti-trafficking efforts, according to the report.
NUMBER OF UNACCOMPANIED MIGRANT CHILDREN IN CBP CARE TRIPLES IN LAST TWO WEEKS
The news comes as law enforcement officials and political leaders in states along the southern border have repeatedly warned that immigration has turned into a crisis situation.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also announced deploying National Guard troops to combat the “smuggling of people and drugs into Texas.”
“The crisis at our southern border continues to escalate because of Biden administration policies that refuse to secure the border and invite illegal immigration,” said Abbott. “Texas supports legal immigration but will not be an accomplice to the open border policies that cause, rather than prevent, a humanitarian crisis in our state and endanger the lives of Texans. We will surge the resources and law enforcement personnel needed to confront this crisis.”
The number of unaccompanied migrant children in CBP’s custody has also nearly tripled in the last two weeks.
There are more than 3,200 unaccompanied minors in CBP’s care, with 1,400 who have remained in custody past the 72-hour limit.
“DHS has continued our close coordination with HHS as it increases its capacity to care for unaccompanied minors and place them with sponsors,” a CBP spokesperson told the Washington Examiner in an email. “Our goal is to ensure that CBP has the continued capability to quickly and efficiently transfer unaccompanied minors after they are apprehended to HHS custody, as is required by U.S. law, and as is clearly in the best interest of the children.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Biden administration last week denied a crisis is occurring on the border, with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas instead describing the situation as a “challenge.”
President Biden asked senior officials last week to travel to the border in order to brief him on the matter.
