WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Homeland Security Department took the temporary measure of closing the Texas-Mexico border crossing to “stop a large movement of migrants coming by rail and to protect the health and safety of its personnel,” the White House said on Wednesday.

“We are working closely with the Mexican government in attempt to resolve this issue, while surging personnel to the region. We are communicating regularly with industry leaders to ensure we are assessing and mitigating the impacts of these temporary closures,” the White House added.

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler)