Some 1,500 migrants crossed Rio Grande into El Paso on Sunday - witness

Migrants, among them Nicaraguans who were kidnapped by organised crime in the state of Durango and were released days later by the Mexican Army, queue near the border wall after crossing the Rio Bravo river to turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents to request asylum in the U.S. city of El Paso, Texas, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico December 12, 2022. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - About 1,500 people crossed the Rio Grande overnight from Mexico into El Paso, Texas, a Reuters witness said on Monday, amid an increase in migrant arrivals in the area ahead of the expiry of a pandemic-era order that blocks them at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Some of the migrants were clutching bags in their arms and children on their back as they waded into the river to cross from Ciudad Juarez in Mexico into the United States, according to a Reuters witness who photographed the events.