Funviralpark
El Paso, Texas
CNN
—
Since the first fence was erected along the Mexican border near El Paso last week, the Texas National Guard has erected more than two miles of barricades and plans to build more, an official spokesperson told CNN Monday. told to
Still, just crossing the border in Ciudad Juarez, dozens of migrants lined up Monday to turn themselves in to US border officials. Some people were watching the construction of the fence over the weekend, they told CNN.
They are part of the recent flood of tens of thousands of migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border, many of them including children, living in tents on the streets or in the freezing cold.
The 2020 order, which allows authorities to quickly deport most migrants at the border, was launched to curb the spread of Covid-19, officials said at the time. However, the future of the policy, which was due to end on December 21st, is uncertain.
Following urgent requests from 19 Republican-led states, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Dec. 19 temporarily suspended the termination of Title 42, leaving it in effect until a court order. .
But despite the policy stalemate, El Paso is being overwhelmed by thousands of new immigrants, many of whom have lost their patience or become desperate and become immigration officials or simply leave the United States. They are illegally entering the country, supporters and officials told CNN.
“Given the uncertainty, many have decided to leave Mexico and make their way to the United States illegally,” Elias Rodriguez, director of Hope Center Shelter in Ciudad Juárez, said Monday on CNN. told to
Refuges on both sides of the border are teeming with people fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries and seeking asylum in the United States after making the long and perilous journey.
And that number is only increasing.
In El Paso, a state of emergency declared in anticipation of the lifting of Title 42 has allowed schools and other facilities to be used to protect immigrants. The city of Texas also installed about 1,000 beds in its convention center and accommodated more than 480 immigrants overnight on Christmas Eve and more than 420 on Christmas Day, said city spokeswoman Laura Cruz. Acosta confirmed to CNN.
In Mexico, at least 22,000 migrants are sleeping in shelters, on the streets and in camps in bordering Tijuana, Reynosa and Matamoros, city officials and supporters told CNN on Monday.
Reynosa has about 8,000 immigrants, according to Reverend Hector Silva, who runs a prominent shelter near Hidalgo, Texas.
The number of immigrants in Matamoros, southeast of Brownsville, Texas, jumped from about 2,000 to about 5,000 in the past week, according to Grady Edith Kanas, who runs the nonprofit Ayudandles a Triunfer. Some, mostly Venezuelans, live in large encampments with tightly packed tents covered in tarps supported by clothesline ropes.
Conditions in the refugee camps were dire, migrants told CNN. Some families have been waiting for weeks. People sleep under tents and don’t know where their next meal will come from. By the end of the year, the temperature dropped below freezing.
Many people, including mothers and sick children, are waiting on the streets, in abandoned houses and on sidewalks.
“They are feeling desperate,” Cañas said.
As CNN’s drone footage shows, some migrants crossed the Rio Grande on inflatable rafts from Matamoros to Brownsville last week, and a large presence of federal and state law enforcement agencies swept from the U.S. riverbanks. I was watching.
Photo: El Paso’s surge in border crossings
In Tijuana, near San Diego, about 9,000 immigrants are living in shelters and homes, said Enrique Lucero, the city’s director of immigration affairs. About 60 percent of the migrants are refugees from Mexico, the rest from Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Venezuela, he said.
In Ciudad Juárez, it was unclear how many migrants were waiting in the area’s 23 shelters and camps near the Rio Grande, said Santiago González Reyes, head of the city’s human rights department. Stated.
“We are a transit city, so it is difficult to give concrete figures. Many migrants arrive by plane, road, car and bus,” Gonzalez Reyes told CNN. “We don’t know exactly how many immigrants are in Juarez right now.”
