Officials said an El Paso bridge where federal agents clashed earlier with large groups of migrants attempting to breach the border was safe and flowing freely Sunday night.
Large groups of angry migrants that tried to cross into the United States on the Paso del Norte bridge were met by traffic barriers, concertina wire and agents in riot gear, video of the confrontations showed.
The afternoon clashes prompted officials to close northbound lanes of the bridge, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson Roger Maier said in a statement.
“Port hardening measures” on the bridge began about 1:30 p.m., he said.
“A large group of individuals formed on the Mexican side of the border and approached the international boundary posing a potential threat to make a mass entry,” Maier said.
Similar attempts to breach the border also took place at two other land ports in the region, the Bridge of the Americas and the Stanton crossing, prompting authorities to erect temporary barriers at those locations Sunday afternoon, too, according to CBP.
Video captured moments when angry migrants yelled and flailed at CBP officers dressed in riot gear, concertina wire separating the two sides.
On Monday, President Joe Biden was expected to travel to the nation’s largest city along the U.S.-Mexico border, San Diego, to meet with the prime ministers of the U.K. and Australia, but no trips to that barrier were scheduled.
Last week, two sources familiar with Biden administration border planning said a controversial policy from the era of former President Donald Trump was under consideration to help dissuade migrants from overwhelming ports and enforcement efforts.
The Trump administration’s “family detention” policy, holding migrants and their children when they’re apprehended at the border, was rejected by the Biden administration shortly after he took office.
Amid hammering over border security by Republicans and the May conclusion of a pandemic-era loophole that allows officials to turn away…
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