SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A series of high-stakes talks between U.S. and Mexican officials is bringing changes to the border in San Diego.
The Mexican government will launch a new task force to address the recent surge of migrants. According to an ABC News report, as many as 10,000 migrants were arrested daily across the U.S.-Mexico border in December.
The idea for the task force was created after U.S. leaders pressed Mexico to do more to stem the crisis. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say December 2023 is on track to have the highest number of apprehensions at the border ever.
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San Diego Border Patrol Chief Patricia McGurk-Daniel provided ABC 10News with new numbers regarding this influx at the border in our backyard.
In the last week, she says agents apprehended more than 7,000 people from 75 countries. Of those people, 142 of them were unaccompanied children. They also stopped 11 human smuggling events during that period. The recent wave led CBP to close the PedWest crossing facility in San Ysidro in order to free up resources to assist with the staggering number of migrants.
10News spoke to Congressman Juan Vargas about the issue, and he believes too many resources have been diverted.
"We've closed down PedWest, which is a tremendous problem," Vargas says. "I do understand Homeland Security is under a difficult situation, where other parts of the border are arriving, that is true. You have a lot more migrants that are showing up in areas than San Diego. THey're diverting resources there, but they're diverting too many resources."
Reopening the PedWest Port of Entry is among the goals of the new task force. Mexican leaders say Mexico will regularly meet with countries in Central and Latin America as the situation evolves. The next meeting will be held in Jan. 2024.
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