Reuters reported on the 2nd that the United States plans to resume traffic at four border areas with Mexico on the 4th due to a decrease in illegal immigration. The places where traffic with Mexico is resumed are the bridge at Eagle Pass, a border town in Texas, two checkpoints in Arizona, and the checkpoint in San Diego, California. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) closed bridges and checkpoints one after another in December last year as the number of immigrants entering the U.S. through the border with Mexico surged to an unmanageable level, reaching nearly 11,000 per day.
The U.S. delegation, including Secretary of State Tony Blinken, paid a courtesy call on Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on the 27th of last month and decided to hold a high-level meeting with Mexico and cooperate closely to resolve the immigration issue. Mexico’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the resumption of traffic along the U.S. southern border in a statement, saying it would “benefit the economies of both countries.” Citing an internal U.S. government report, Reuters reported that U.S. border authorities apprehended an average of 6,400 migrants per day last week, a significant decrease compared to before Christmas.
Additionally, the Associated Press reported that the Biden administration asked the Supreme Court on the 2nd to allow the state of Texas to remove the barbed wire fence it installed on the border with Mexico. Texas Governor Reg Abbott, a Republican, installed barbed wire along 48km of the Rio Grande River near the border town of Eagle Pass as immigrants flocked from Mexico to Texas.
Federal government workers began cutting the barbed wire, but an appeals court ruled in favor of Texas last month, ordering them to stop. Then, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an urgent appeal to the Federal Supreme Court, asking to suspend the effectiveness of the appeals court ruling.
Governor Abbott is also pursuing the installation of an ‘underwater barrier’ in the Rio Grande River and is engaged in a legal battle with the Biden administration, which points out a violation of related laws.