Houston, Sep 17 (TIWN) Texas is going to shut down six points of entry along the US-Mexico border amid a massive surge of migration, Governor Greg Abbott announced.

"I have directed the Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to surge personnel and vehicles to shut down six points of entry along the southern border to stop these caravans from overrunning our state," Abbott said in a statement.  "The border crisis is so dire that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection is requesting our help as their agents are overwhelmed by the chaos," the governor said, slamming President Joe Biden's administration for "the sheer negligence" to secure the border.  Marsha Espinosa, spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, told CNN on Thursday that it "is not seeking assistance from the State of Texas to shut down ports of entry." 

"It would be a violation of federal law for the Texas National Guard to unilaterally do so," the spokesperson said.  Local media reported Thursday that in Del Rio, a city of 35,000 residents in southwestern Texas, thousands of migrants, mostly from Haiti, huddled in dirty conditions in a temporary staging area under the Del Rio International Bridge, waiting to turn themselves in to the U.S. Border Patrol and seek asylum.