Texas Border Mayor Declares Disaster, Closes Entry to International Bridge Above Migrant Camp

The mayor of the border city of Del Rio, Texas, declared a state of disaster on Friday as migrants continue to pour across from Mexico. Calling the situation “dire,” the mayor shut down the toll booths on the Del Rio International Bridge and closed it to traffic as a security measure.

“Dire circumstances require dire responses,” Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano said, according to the Texas Tribune. “There’s people having babies down there [under the bridge], there’s people collapsing out of the heat. They’re pretty aggressive, rightly so — they’ve been in the heat day after day after day.”

As of Friday morning, more than 12,000 migrants are being held under the bridge, Breitbart Texas reported. Migrants, mostly from Haiti and Venezuela, continue to cross the border faster than Border Patrol agents can process them and bus them away.

Mayor Bruno reportedly called for assistance from the State of Texas to help keep the migrants from leaving the bridge area and entering his city.

The current migrant population under the bridge is more than 12,000. This is roughly half the adult population of the city of Del Rio.

One day earlier, Mayor Bruno described a separate economy that developed among the migrants being detained under the bridge. Migrants, reportedly Mexican nationals, stream back and forth across the border bringing goods into the migrant camp.

In response to the overwhelming number of migrants crossing into Del Rio, Border Patrol officials shut down interior immigration checkpoints to free up more agents to work the migrant camp.

Meanwhile, Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez told reporters that no one is being tested for COVID-19 or anything else, Breitbart reported.

“We’re alone down here dealing with a national issue,” the sheriff said about the current crisis that is underway in his county. “We feel abandoned.”

Breitbart Texas reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for confirmation about the reported closing of the international bridge. An immediate response was not available.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.