American citizens say they’ve been trapped in Mexico by the closure of an Arizona border overwhelmed by migrants — and are considering crossing back into the US illegally themselves rather than making dangerous eight-hour round trips.
The border crossing at Lukeville has been closed since December 4 as border patrol agents are diverted to dealing with thousands of migrants arriving illegally in the area, some of whom cut down parts of the border wall to flood into the US.
The closure means those on the Mexican side of the border have to travel through ports of entry in Nogales or San Luis Rio Colorado to the east or west, turning a journey of 30 minutes or an hour into a six-to-eight hour odyssey.
“There’s so many people that are so upset seeing all these 10,000 illegals coming in a day, and they’re coming through a wall that the cartel cut a hole in,” real estate broker Robin Miller, who lives in the beach town of Rocky Point, told The Post.
“And they’re just coming in, coming in. Yet us people with passports [who] are legal to go to the states, we can’t go.”
Others pointed out the increased journey means navigating cartel controlled territory and poorly maintained desert roads, which can be extremely dangerous.
“I’ve driven that route with my partner many times,” said restaurateur Cynthia Lowe, explaining the Nogales route takes her through the cartel-run city of Caborca. “But to do it alone as a single woman? It’s a little sketchy.”
Lowe said she has to work until Christmas Eve but wants to see her children in Tucson for the holiday.
“I’m seriously contemplating walking through the hole in the wall and having my kids pick me up on the other side,” she said. “I have one of two choices. I can go through the wall, like everybody else is doing, or I can go through Nogales,” she added.
Lowe runs the Ole Mole restaurant in Rocky Point, which is about an hour from the border. She says the town’s tourism-based economy has been completely destroyed by the border closure.
She’s lost at least 80% of her business since the closure came into effect on Dec. 4, and had to lay off four employees “with tears in my eyes” within a week. She has since been waiting tables herself, when there are even customers to wait on at all.
“Listen, when the strip clubs shut down, now that’s bad. All the t—y bars are closed,” said Lowe.
“This is the worst situation we’ve ever seen,” added Miller.
A day after the closure of the Lukeville border, a single-day record of 12,000 migrants crossed into US along the southern border. CBP figures from October showed 52,000 people had presented themselves at border stations, while a whopping 189,000 were apprehended while attempting to cross illegally.
With no tourists around to spend their money, the vacuum of cash has already begun to ripple throughout Rocky Point’s businesses in what Miller and Lowe both called a “trickle down effect.”
“You’ve got all these local people here dependent upon tourist-driven businesses for their livelihood, and you cut that off, that’s going to affect other local businesses,” said Lowe. “For example, let’s say you get your nails done by a local nail lady. Well, now you’re not going to get your nails done because you lost your job on the beach or in the restaurant or wherever you’re at.”
“It’s a trickle down effect. And it trickled down very, very rapidly,” she added.
Footage and photos taken by Kristen Hanes, who runs the travel blog The Wayward Home and lives in Rocky Point during the winter months, showed the town’s typically busy beaches bare of all visitors and the streets empty.
Locals have complained leaders in Mexico and the U.S. alike have left them high and dry without meaningful aid to weather the closure. Lowe reached out to Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs’ office for help, but said she was advised to call Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who was no more unhelpful.
“They were very unsympathetic. Very cold, dry response. Basically said, ‘Well, we’ll pass your concern along. Thank you. Thank you for calling.'”
Governor Hobbs sent a letter to President Biden on December 8 asking him to use the National Guard to reopen the Lukeville crossing, but so far no actions have been taken.
Local charities, residents, and businesses have begun taking up the slack themselves — but their resources are becoming strained, too.
One restaurant that typically gives Christmas toys to its employees’ children ended up handing out cash to the parents instead to help them get by. The town’s annual toy drive has been postponed altogether.
Even the animals of Rocky Point are struggling. Barb’s Dog Rescue stores its dog food across the border in Arizona and depends on volunteer tourists to transporting the heavy bags to the rescue when they travel south. Without the tourists, the rescue ran out of food within a week of the closure and was forced to shell out $4,000 for another week’s worth of food.
“I don’t understand the thinking behind this,” Lowe said of the border closure. “Whoever made this was really idiotic. Didn’t think this one through at all.”
“You’re affecting everybody kids, women, men, children, businesses, dogs, everybody. Everybody.”