Homeland Security on Friday said it will restart freight rail traffic at two Texas border crossings with Mexico after an outcry from Congress and complaints that it was draining money from the economy.
Customs and Border Protection, the Homeland Security agency that oversees the crossings, had suspended freight traffic in Eagle Pass and El Paso so officers who normally manned those posts could be shifted to help process the wave of illegal immigrants pouring in.
CBP blamed smugglers for the surge and said it needed to adjust its manpower.
But the shutdown proved unpopular, with lawmakers from Texas to the agriculture heartland complaining that several dozen trains a day went through those crossings and were now sitting idle.
Even with the railway lines open, CBP has curtailed other southern border operations.
That includes a full shutdown at Lukeville, Arizona, and closures of vehicle processing at one bridge in Eagle Pass and pedestrian processing at a crossing in San Diego.
CBP said it was trying to “maximize our ability to respond, process and enforce consequences” on illegal border crossers.
People are streaming in between the ports of entry even though the Biden administration has created new programs — on iffy legal ground — to try to get them to come through the official crossings and, in some cases, to fly directly into the interior.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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