Nearly a handful of immigration checkpoints in Texas and New Mexico have been closed off so border patrol agents can help process and transport asylum seekers to clear the backlog of some 829,000 pending cases, Texas Monthly reports.
The checkpoints were located in the El Paso Border Patrol sector.
"It's really out of control. It's bad," one official told the outlet of the record number of families crossing the border.
According to a database maintained by Syracuse University, 829,608 asylum cases are pending, with an average wait of 746 days.
The Trump administration has taken steps to focus on the backlog, announcing earlier this month that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services would close all its international offices.
Rep. Henry Cueller, D-Texas, told Texas Monthly he has received reports that agents with CBP who are usually charged with cross-border cargo inspections have also been redeployed.
"We're seeing an impact on the traditional work Border Patrol and CBP do to handle the large number of asylum cases," he said.
The Border Patrol's El Paso sector, which includes El Paso and Hudspeth counties in Texas and all of New Mexico, had been taking custody of almost 600 migrants a day for the past month.
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