DHS Suspends Railway Operations at Border Crossings

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) temporarily suspended rail operations beginning on Monday at two railway crossing bridges along the southern border in response to the difficulties in processing the growing influx of illegal aliens entering the United States from Mexico. 

In a statement released on Sunday, CBP officials said that beginning at 8 a.m. on Dec. 18, the “Office of Field Operations will temporarily suspend operations at the international railway crossing bridges in Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas in order to redirect personnel to assist the U.S. Border Patrol with taking migrants into custody.”  

The closure comes after videos shared by multiple news sources showed thousands of migrants heading to the U.S., lining railroad tracks as a “freight train passed about three hours south of Eagle Pass, Texas, in Piedras Negras, Mexico, waiting for a chance to jump aboard to the southern border, where they are expected to arrive in the coming days.” 

The CBP statement declared that the agency

is continuing to surge all available resources to safely process migrants in response to increased levels of migrant encounters at the Southwest Border, fueled by smugglers peddling disinformation to prey on vulnerable individuals. After observing a recent resurgence of smuggling organizations moving migrants through Mexico via freight trains, CBP is taking additional actions to surge personnel and address this concerning development, including in partnership with Mexican authorities.

NBC reported that Congressman Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), “whose district runs through a large section of the border[,] just released a statement that said, ‘Our entire southern border is being dismantled by the cartels. While mass migrant caravans pull CBP personnel off the front lines, multiple border patrol checkpoints have been shut down. Washington must put politics aside and deliver policy solutions that fix this border crisis once and for all.’” 

As the CBP continues to adjust their operational plans “to maximize enforcement efforts against those noncitizens who do not use lawful pathways” into the U.S., the Senate is working this week to agree on a national security supplemental funding package that includes a greatly needed border security deal. 

However, any viable measure being passed before the new year appears doomed. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told NBC on Sunday, “The bottom line here is we feel like we’re being jammed, we’re not anywhere close to a deal, it will go into next year.” 

Congress will have to address the national security supplemental funding package when they return from their holiday recess on January 8. That will leave the lawmakers less than two weeks to agree on a funding package that includes border security along with all the other appropriations bills to fund transportation, housing, agriculture, and energy programs by January 19. They will have until February 2 to fund all other agencies and avert a government shutdown. 

Monday’s closure of the railway crossings only highlights the severity of the border crisis brought about by the Biden administration’s failure to secure our border. According to the CBP, there have been over 6.5 million acknowledged illegal-alien encounters along our southern border since 2021 — and fiscal year 2024 is on pace to reach 4 million.  

With the record number of illegal aliens entering the country, along with the presidential election fast approaching, we can only hope that the Biden administration ends its open-border policies and finally secures our borders.  

Click here to learn more about America’s immigration invasion — and what can be done to stop it.