MEXICO CITY (REUTERS/Border Report) — A Reuters News Agency report says the United States is urging Mexico to dismantle makeshift migrant campsites in border cities to eliminate security risks that attract criminal gangs.

Border Report has long covered two of the largest camps on the Mexico side of the border: one in Reynosa, across from McAllen, Texas; and one in Tijuana, across from San Diego.

According to Reuters, U.S. President Joe Biden put pressure on Mexico to manage the flow of migrants that eventually make their way to the border. The U.S. government has also been asking Mexico to clear the camps entirely, concerned about the possibility of large groups trying to rush the border as well as cartels targeting and extorting migrants.

Migrant campsite in Tijuana, Mexico just south of the border. (Jorge Nieto/Special to Border Report)

Reuters’ story goes on to say that U.S. government officials and migrant advocates estimate there are at least 2,500 people at both the Reynosa camp and the Tijuana camp. The State Department and White House did not want to provide a comment on Reuters’ story and Mexico’s Foreign Ministry didn’t respond to requests.