Influx of migrants at U.S.-Mexico border soars again

HOUSTON, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Roughly 4,000 migrants on Wednesday moved into Eagle Pass, a border city in the U.S. state of Texas, prompting Texas Governor Greg Abbott to declare "an invasion" at the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday evening.

This came hours after the mayor of Eagle Pass issued a local disaster declaration to seek more resources.

"I officially declared an invasion at our border because of Biden's policies," the Republican governor said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"We are building a border wall, razor wire and marine barriers. We are also repelling migrants," he said, repeatedly calling the White House border policy a "failure."

The number of migrants crossing the southern border into the United States has surged rapidly and border officials have made more than 45,000 migrant encounters in the last five days alone both at the ports of entry and between them, according to a Fox News report.

The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it will offer temporary legal status to more than 470,000 Venezuelan migrants who entered the United States by July 31.

The designation will speed up the process for eligible migrants to obtain U.S. work permits to ease the pressure on New York, Chicago and other cities struggling to support migrants with strained shelter and social services.