US shuts Paso Del Norte border bridge to stop migrants rushing across from Mexico
- Moves comes after more than hundred migrants attempted to cross into the US following a court ruling suspending asylum policy
- Other ports of entry have remained open
US authorities said they closed the busy Ciudad Juarez-El Paso border bridge on Friday after more than a hundred mostly Cuban migrants tried to cross in response to a court ruling suspending an asylum policy.
Earlier, an appeal court ruled to block one of President Donald Trump’s signature immigration policies the administration says has helped to curb migration on the southern border and forced tens of thousands to wait in Mexico.
Word of the news spread on social media and a Reuters witness saw migrants on the Mexican side of the border heading towards the bridge while some US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers were putting on riot gear.
“I’ve been waiting in Juarez for 10 months,” said one Cuban asylum seeker, who declined to give his name. “I don’t care how long I have to wait here for them to let us through.”
CBP confirmed on its Twitter account that it had closed the Paso Del Norte Bridge to stop a group of migrants from illegally and forcefully entering the United States and that other ports stayed open.
The policy has forced roughly 60,000 people back to Mexico under one of Trump’s asylum policies, called the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), to await the outcome of their cases in often dangerous border towns.