
U.S. reopening 4 entry points at southern border after migrant crossings drop
All 4 were closed recently due to record levels of migrant crossings but those levels have dropped dramatically in recent days.
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Camilo Montoya-Galvez is an award-winning reporter covering immigration for CBS News, where his reporting is featured across multiple CBS News and Stations platforms, including the CBS News 24/7, CBSNews.com and CBS News Radio.
Montoya-Galvez is also part of CBS News' team of 2024 political campaign reporters.
Montoya-Galvez joined CBS News in 2018 and has reported hundreds of articles on immigration, the U.S. immigration policy, the contentious debate on the topic, and connected issues. He's landed exclusive stories and developed in-depth reports on the impact of significant policy changes. He's also extensively reported on the people affected by a complex immigration system.
Before joining CBS News, Montoya-Galvez spent over two years as an investigative unit producer and assignment desk editor at Telemundo's television station in New York City. His work at Telemundo earned three New York Emmy Awards.
Earlier, he was the founding editor of After the Final Whistle, an online bilingual publication featuring stories that highlight soccer's role in contemporary society.
He was born in Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, and raised in northern New Jersey.
He earned a bachelor's degree in media and journalism studies/Spanish from Rutgers University.
All 4 were closed recently due to record levels of migrant crossings but those levels have dropped dramatically in recent days.
Never before has U.S. Border Patrol processed that many migrants in one month, according to monthly tallies going back to fiscal year 2000.
U.S. Border Patrol agents processed more than 225,000 migrants in the first 27 days of December, a tally that eclipses the previous monthly record.
SB4 would allow Texas officials to arrest, jail and prosecute migrants on state criminal charges if they are suspected of entering the U.S. illegally.
In the past week, migrant crossings surpassed or neared 10,000 each day, overwhelming U.S. border agents in Arizona and Texas.
The law, known as SB4, gives Texas law enforcement authorities the power to stop, arrest and jail migrants on new state charges.
The bipartisan group of senators is attempting to agree to the framework of a landmark deal as early as Sunday.
The president's willingness to support strict border policies reflects a seismic shift in the politics of immigration over the past several years.
The White House informed Senate Democrats that it could back sweeping hardline immigration policy changes as part of the negotiations over President Biden's emergency funding request.
While on the 2024 campaign trail, former President Donald Trump has repeatedly refused to rule out reinstating his infamous border separation policy.
A remote desert region along the southern border has become a makeshift international arrivals area for thousands of migrants.
Nearly 500,000 migrants, half of them women and children, have crossed into Panama this year through the notorious Darién jungle. Many of them have sought to reach the U.S.
Former President Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have both made hardline immigration policies essential issues to their political careers.
President Biden's campaign aides are aiming to bring attention to what they see as the most draconian immigration policies former President Donald Trump has promised to implement if elected again in 2024.
The number of Venezuelans crossing the U.S.-Mexico border unlawfully dropped by 46% in October, when the Biden administration started deportations to Venezuela.