(Trends Wide) — The Del Rio port of entry in Texas was opened to vehicular traffic on Saturday afternoon after a week-long shutdown triggered by a surge in migrants along the Mexican border.
Vehicle and pedestrian traffic resumed at 5:00 p.m. (Miami time) Saturday, and cargo traffic is due to restart Monday morning, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). , for its acronym in English).
The popular port of entry that connects the Texan city of Del Rio with Ciudad Acuña in Mexico closed temporarily on September 17 after the migrants – many of them Haitians – converged on a makeshift camp under the international bridge to await processing by part of the immigration authorities.
At times, the number of migrants exceeded 14,000.
Bridge traffic was redirected to the Eagle Pass port of entry.
Chaotic scenes on the Del Rio Bridge, including horse border agents using aggressive tactics against migrants, sparked ire from local and federal officials and a border crisis for the Biden government.
After several days of living in squalid conditions under the bridge, the last remaining migrants began leaving the camp on Friday by buses to CBP processing centers.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, more than 3,900 Haitians have been transferred from the Del Rio camp to the custody of CBP and other sectors of the border for processing.
