Arizona Border Crisis Crushing Local Economy

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent near the temporarily closed Lukeville Port of Entry in southern Arizona helps illegal aliens waiting to be taken to another processing facility on Dec. 7, 2023. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

A surge in illegal immigrants flooding into the country has caused economic hardship for businesses in the border city of Nogales, Arizona, where traffic has come to a virtual standstill.

The closing of the heavily-trafficked port of entry in Lukeville, Arizona, has led to a bottleneck effect at other ports, including in Nogales. As a result, wait times to enter the United States have gone from an average of 15–45 minutes to 2–5 hours, leading many potential shoppers to just stay home—to the detriment of local businesses.

Mark Willmeth, the manager at Border Pawn and Coins in Nogales, told The Epoch Times that the loss of traffic from Mexican tourists wanting to shop for the holidays has had a devastating effect on the local economy.

“This entire section of Nogales has relied on traffic in and out of Mexico, and with everything all congested and people not being able to get across, it has had a dramatic effect on all business owners here,” said Mr. Willmeth. “The wait is just too long.”

The Lukeville Port of Entry was shut down on Dec. 4 after federal customs officers were pulled from their posts to manage the large groups of illegal immigrants entering through unsecured areas or broken sections of the border wall.

Mexican nationals who often cross into the United States to shop have been increasingly deciding to opt out of the long waits, according to business owners.

“You would have to be a crazy person to want to spend five hours waiting in their car to come holiday shop,” a worker who answered the phone at the floral shop, Baskets to Go, told The Epoch Times. “No one is doing that.”

Lisa Urias, the CEO of the Arizona Office of Tourism, told Phoenix New Times that due to the timing, the current disruption at the border is going to have a crushing effect on local business.

“While we understand the need to divert resources to the pressing challenges U.S. Customs and Border Protection is facing, the decision to close this active port of entry couldn’t have come at a worse time for the economies on both sides of the border, which rely on the daily flow of people and goods in both directions for their livelihoods, especially during the holiday season,” Ms. Urias said.

On Dec. 15, Arizona’s Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs responded to the outrage by calling for a mobilization of the state’s National Guard to the border as she blamed the Biden administration for its refusal to send resources.

“Yet again, the federal government is refusing to do its job to secure our border and keep our communities safe,” said Ms. Hobbs in a statement. “With this Executive Order, I am taking action where the federal government won’t. But we can’t stand alone, Arizona needs resources and manpower to reopen the Lukeville crossing, manage the flow of migrants, and maintain a secure, orderly and humane border. Despite continued requests for assistance, the Biden administration has refused to deliver desperately needed resources to Arizona’s border.”

Surge in Illegal Border Crossings

In recent years, the nation has seen a large surge in illegal border crossings.

In October, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported the highest number of illegal immigrant encounters for any October on record, with 240,988 encounters at the southern border. The agency also reported that 13 of the arrests it made during the month were of people on the FBI terror watchlist (12 from the southern border and one from the northern border). The fiscal year total for 2023 is expected to exceed 2.4 million, surpassing 2022’s record of 2.3 million, once the figures are finalized.

In Arizona, a record high of 17,500 illegal immigrants were arrested for unlawfully entering the southeast region of the state from Mexico between Nov. 24 and Nov. 30—up from approximately 15,650 the previous week.

Tucson, Arizona, “is experiencing an unprecedented surge of illegal entries,” and there is no room to hold new arrivals, according to an email obtained by the Washington Examiner on Nov. 27.

“This morning we had more than 5,000 people in custody—far more than our holding capacity,” the email said.

In Nogales, businesses that had been struggling even before massive congestion at the border slowed commerce are now wondering how they will survive, according to Mr. Willmeth.

“For a long time, half of the buildings here have been empty, and I think people were just beginning to recover from Covid, but I can’t imagine this is going to make anything better,” said Mr. Willmeth.

“A lot of people are really struggling. Something needs to be done before it is too late,” he added.