Del Rio Port of Entry closed after ‘massive’ migrant bridge influx
DEL RIO, Texas — U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Friday evening that it was temporarily closing the Del Rio Port of Entry to vehicles and pedestrians in both directions and re-routing traffic to Eagle Pass, which is 57 miles away.
CBP said it closed the only Del Rio border crossing with Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, “to respond to urgent safety and security needs.”
It comes as thousands of Haitian migrants have assembled under and around a bridge in the small Texas border town, presenting the Biden administration with a fresh and immediate challenge as it tries to manage large numbers of asylum-seekers who have been reaching U.S. soil.
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Images showed Haitians crossing the Rio Grande in huge groups and assembling under a bridge in Del Rio, a city of 35,000 people. Estimates were as high as 12,000.
Haitians have been migrating to the U.S. from South America for years, including many who left the Caribbean nation after a devastating earthquake in 2010.
It is unclear how so many Haitians amassed so quickly in Del Rio, but a U.S. official said the government plans to send the “massive" number of migrants from the Texas border to Haiti on flights starting Sunday.
