Border closure prompts US citizens to consider crossing illegally rather than drive 8 hours

American citizens say they have been trapped in Mexico by the closure of an Arizona border overwhelmed by migrants, and are considering crossing back into the United States illegally themselves rather than make dangerous eight-hour round trips.

The border crossing at Lukeville has been closed since Dec. 4 as border patrol agents are diverted to deal with thousands of immigrants arriving illegally in the area, some of whom cut through parts of the border wall to flood into the United States.

The closure means those on the Mexican side of the border have to travel through ports of entry in Nogales or San Luis Río Colorado to the east or west, turning a 30-minute or one-hour trip into a six-hour odyssey. to eight hours.

“There are so many people who are so upset to see all these 10,000 illegals come in one day and break through a wall that the cartel made a hole in,” said real estate broker Robin Miller, who lives in the coastal town of Rocky. . Period, he told The Post.

“And they’re just coming in, coming in. However, we, the people with passports [who] “If it is legal to go to the United States, we cannot go.”

Others noted that increased travel means navigating cartel-controlled territory and poor desert roads, which can be extremely dangerous.

“I’ve driven that route with my partner many times,” said restaurateur Cynthia Lowe, explaining that the Nogales route takes her through the cartel-controlled city of Caborca.

Rocky Point’s typically bustling beaches have been deserted since the Lukeville port of entry closed on December 4. X / @KristinHanes

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“But doing it alone as a single woman? “It’s a little incomplete.”

Lowe said he has to work until Christmas Eve but wants to see his children in Tucson over the holidays.

“I’m seriously thinking about walking through the hole in the wall and having my kids pick me up on the other side,” he said.

“I have one of two options. “I can go through the wall, like everyone else is doing, or I can go through Nogales,” she added.

Lowe runs Ole Mole Restaurant in Rocky Point, which is about an hour from the border.

La Negrita, along with most restaurants, have been left empty since the border crossing closure X/ @KristinHanes

She says the city’s tourism-based economy has been completely destroyed by the border closure.

He has lost at least 80% of his business since the lockdown went into effect on December 4 and had to lay off four employees “with tears in their eyes” in one week.

Since then, she has been waiting tables herself, when there are even customers to serve.

“Listen, when the strip clubs closed, that’s bad. All the bars are closed,” Lowe said.

“This is the worst situation we have ever seen,” Miller added.

Despite the closure of Lukeville, locals say migrants have still slipped through nearby holes in the border fence. REUTERS

One day after the Lukeville border closed, a single-day record 12,000 migrants crossed into the United States along the southern border.

CBP figures from October showed that 52,000 people had shown up at border stations, while a whopping 189,000 were detained while trying to cross illegally.

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Without tourists around to spend their money, the lack of cash has already begun to affect Rocky Point businesses in what Miller and Lowe called a “trickle-down effect.”

“There are all these local people here who depend on tourism-driven businesses for their livelihood, and if that is cut, that will affect other local businesses,” Lowe said.

“For example, let’s say you get your nails done by a local manicurist. “Well, now you’re not going to get your nails done because you lost your job at the beach or the restaurant or wherever you are.”

Rocky Point relies on tourism to pay its bills. Many locals say that 80% of their customers have disappeared since December 4. X / @Hectorjr71

“It’s a trickle-down effect. And it leaked out very, very quickly,” she added.

Images and photographs taken by Kristen Hanes, who runs the travel blog The Wayward Home and lives in Rocky Point during the winter months, showed the city’s typically busy beaches, deserted of visitors and streets empty.

Locals have complained that leaders in Mexico and the United States have left them without significant help to weather the shutdown.

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Lowe asked Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ office for help, but said she was advised to call Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who was no more useless.

“They were very unfriendly. Very cold and dry response. He basically said, ‘Well, we’ll convey his concern to you.’ Thank you. Thanks for calling.'”

Governor Hobbs sent a letter to President Biden on December 8 asking him to use the National Guard to reopen the Lukeville crossing, but so far no action has been taken.

Local charities, residents and businesses have begun to pick up the slack themselves, but their resources are also running out.

A restaurant that normally gives Christmas toys to its employees’ children ended up giving cash to parents to help them get by.

The city’s annual toy drive has been postponed entirely.

Even the animals at Rocky Point are struggling.

Barb’s Dog Rescue stores its dog food across the border in Arizona and relies on volunteer tourists to haul the heavy bags to the rescue when they travel south.

Without the tourists, the rescue team ran out of food a week after the closure and was forced to shell out $4,000 to buy food for another week.

“I don’t understand the idea behind it,” Lowe said of the border closure.

“Whoever did this was really idiotic. “I didn’t think about this at all.”

“You are affecting everyone, children, women, men, children, companies, dogs, everyone. All.”

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Source: vtt.edu.vn

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