Lukeville port of entry reopens after a month-long closure

The major border crossing point of Lukeville is re-opening a month after it was closed due to an influx of migrants. Lukeville is the major access point for travelers coming from Rocky Point to the U.S. and from Arizona into Rocky Point.

The border patrol shut it down after tens of thousands of migrants flooded other entry points and extra assistance was needed. The closure reportedly caused a major economic hit to Rocky Point as well as bordering Arizona towns. We spoke with Rafael Carranza, Immigration Issues Reporter at the Arizona Republic,” who has been covering the closure.

“The pressure had been mounting on the Biden administration to sort of take action because people may or may not realize the damage that this was causing, not just to border businesses and border communities, but also politically, you have members from both parties asking him to take greater action given what’s happening at the border,” Carranza said.

Carranza said the reason behind the closures was that border officials needed assistance with processing and redirecting the amount of migrants crossing. He said that the amount of damage in border communities played a role on the pressure put on the government to take action particularly, during an election year.

“It ebbs and flows. Just a few months ago the same problems that we are seeing now in this part of Arizona in the Lukeville area were also happening in Yuma. A few months from now… we may see Nogales or somewhere else along the Arizona border,” Carranza said. “That’s kind of the cat and mouse game that U.S. border officials play with smugglers, they are very adept at figuring out where they can potentially take advantage of weaknesses along the U.S. enforcement to then funnel more people that way.”

Carranza said that he believes migrants will continue to cross and that border officials will continue to need permanent assistance. He said he spoke with many border businesses that went without customers for weeks and the impact of the closure was catastrophic since businesses rely on tourism.