Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs signed an executive order Friday to mobilize the National Guard to the border. “Yet again, the federal government is refusing to do its job to secure our border and keep our communities safe,” said Hobbs, who’s a Democrat. “With this Executive Order, I am taking action where the federal government won’t. But we can’t stand alone, Arizona needs resources and manpower to reopen the Lukeville crossing, manage the flow of migrants, and maintain a secure, orderly and humane border. Despite continued requests for assistance, the Biden administration has refused to deliver desperately needed resources to Arizona’s border.”
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had closed the Lukeville crossing earlier in the month, saying in a press release:
In response to increased levels of migrant encounters at the Southwest Border, fueled by smugglers peddling disinformation to prey on vulnerable individuals, CBP is surging all available resources to expeditiously and safely process migrants. CBP will continue to prioritize our border security mission as necessary in response to this evolving situation.
Beginning on Monday, December 4, CBP’s Office of Field Operations will temporarily suspend operations in Lukeville, Arizona, in order to redirect personnel to assist the U.S. Border Patrol with taking migrants into custody. Both northbound and southbound pedestrian and vehicle traffic at Lukeville Port of Entry will be suspended until further notice.
The CBP release also says, “Travelers can cross into or out of the United States through either the Nogales Port of Entry in Nogales, Arizona or the San Luis Port of Entry in San Luis, Arizona.”
Not to put too fine a point on it, the United States is being overwhelmed with illegal immigration to such an extent that the under-manned CBP decided to shut down a legal port of entry in its efforts to cope.
