At points all along the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday, crowds of migrants clutching sacks of belongings or holding the hands of children waited to apply for asylum as new immigration rules took effect. And more people kept arriving.
A 3-year-old asylum restriction known as Title 42 ended, replaced by new regulations imposed by the Biden administration.
Many migrants on both sides of the border had been waiting for days. In San Diego, a woman holding a baby held up a wristband to a U.S. border guard to say she was among those waiting longest.
Other people peered out from where they were held between two border walls. A group of men huddled under emergency warming blankets. And some kids passed the long hours by kicking an empty water bottle around in a makeshift game of soccer.
Border agents managed long lines of migrants, and watched over crowds of those sitting and waiting to be processed by immigration authorities. In El Paso, Texas, lines of migrants waited in the dust outside a gate in the border fence.
In Brownsville, Texas, volunteers arrived at one border point and handed out pizza to those being held there.
Outside the city, members of the Texas National Guard stood next to rolls of razor wire to watch for illegal crossings.
And in the border town of Matamoros, Mexico, across the Rio Grande River from Brownsville, migrant families continued arriving in hopes of reaching the United States. A small group who had received approval from a charitable organization were escorted by a Mexican immigration official across a bridge to the U.S.
