WATCH LIVE: CBP Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan in El Paso to discuss migrant surge

US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan is in El Paso to discuss the increase of migrants who continue to enter the US along the Southwest border.

McAleenan’s visit comes as U.S. immigration authorities temporarily closed highway checkpoints in New Mexico and much of West Texas, as they reassign agents and use the outposts to help process the growing numbers of Central Americans arriving at the Mexican border. Checkpoints are closed throughout the Border Patrol’s El Paso, Texas, sector, which stretches across 268 miles of border in Texas and New Mexico.

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The checkpoints, located up to 100 miles from the border, are designed to be a final layer of defense against illegal border crossings.

Arrests on Mexican border jumped to 66,450 in February, up 149 percent from a year earlier, as more Central American families seek asylum.

El Paso has quickly emerged as the second-busiest corridor for illegal crossings behind Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, with arrests in February about eight times higher than they were a year ago.

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