What to do next to a shelter? Anonymous sources at a bus station in El Paso, Texas: How the Times used anonymous sources
Shelters are packed on the US side, though not everyone is sheltered. There was a crowd of migrants sleeping outside a bus station in El Paso, Texas.
What we consider before using anonymous sources. Do the sources know the information? What’s their motivation for telling us? Have they proved reliable in the past? Can we corroborate it? The Times relies on anonymous sources even though they were questions that were satisfied. The reporter and at least one editor know the identity of the source.
Crossing the Border between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez with a Large Team of Human Rights Defenders: A Case Study of the Detention of a Central American Nation
In Washington, the debate over the use of the Title 42 restrictions has helped to highlight the administration’s difficulty in making good on President Biden’s promise of border policies that are both secure and humane. As officials have struggled to respond to historic levels of migration, they have at times been criticized by immigration advocates for relying too heavily on Trump-era policies.
However, the United States is limited in its ability to expel Nicaraguans under the public health authority for diplomatic reasons. Mexico will not accept them, and the Biden administration cannot send repatriation flights. As a result, most of the Nicaraguans apprehended are released on a short-term parole with a tracking device or sent briefly to Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, where they are typically released after a few days.
Eventually, they will face removal proceedings in immigration court. The process of getting a warrant and a date to appear in immigration court can take about two hours for a single person, leading to significant backups and contributing to overcrowding.
The group arriving on Sunday included migrants who had been traveling from several Central and South American countries, as well as Haiti, and who had been granted temporary legal status in Mexico that allowed them to travel freely in that country for 180 days, said Santiago González Reyes, the head of the human rights offices in Ciudad Juárez, across the border from El Paso.
A group of over one thousand migrants were bused into Juarez by the government of the Mexican state of Chihuahua on Sunday. The buses, about 19 of them, were paid for by the Mexican government, he said, which had reasoned that the migrants would have walked north anyway and provided a police escort to keep them safe.
The group did not stay long in Juárez. He said that around 4 pm hundreds of people crossed the border in a single group. They walked across the river, Mr. Gonzlez said.
Dina Diaz went behind her husband on the street of El Paso, Texas in order to hide her frustration and defeat from their children. A social worker had escorted them to an emergency shelter only to be denied entry and within the hour, with the sunlight gone for the day, temperatures would quickly dip below freezing.
The Impact of the Border Crossing Crisis on a Child’s Social Worker and a Baby in El Paso: CNN’s Cristina Diaz and her Family
A social worker burst into tears while apologizing for coming empty-handed and the mother who is seven months pregnant couldn’t stop watering her eyes.
Diaz and her family are among the thousands of migrants who arrived in El Paso in the past week. They are part of a surge of border crossings overwhelming resources in this community — a crisis that is likely to worsen with the court-ordered end of Title 42 next week.
A senior Border Patrol official said last week that there had been a big spike in illegal crossings near El Paso over the weekend.
“We’re going to have to work with the UN, and other countries, to make this happen.” He had told reporters that the situation was bigger than El Paso and that it had become bigger than the United States.
The reality of the December 21 deadline is weighing heavily on officials and community organizations, who have already said they’re overwhelmed by the situation.
“We have a responsibility to meet at this moment,” said Marisa Limón Garza, executive director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, a local nonprofit that provides legal services to immigrants.
“It (crisis) requires all of us to encourage our elected officials to do more and to really take a stance in this regard. We don’t have that luxury, and we are not allowed to turn it away from. This is a real phenomenon that people anywhere in the US need to know about,” she added.
CNN spoke with people on both sides of the US-Mexico border about the harsh realities that migrant families have experienced since fleeing poverty as well as drug and gang violence in their home countries, and the role that some locals play in the humanitarian crisis.
Aguilera, Daniel Banda, and the Greyhound station in El Paso: Making a new life at the border crossing crossing
For the past week, Misael Aguilera has waited outside the Greyhound station hoping to embark on the final 8-hour bus drive that will reunite him with his brother in Central Texas.
The 35-year-old spent more than two months traveling from Peru to El Paso, but he can’t afford his bus ticket yet. He arrived at the US-Mexico border with no more than the clothes he was wearing.
“I will never forget the experiences that I had in Mexico, such as being robbed, hearing about kidnappings and seeing people die,” she said.
Aguilera, who used to work as a clinical nurse specialist in his native Cuba, keeps himself busy by keeping the makeshift camp outside the downtown bus station somewhat organized and clean. As some people leave on buses, he and others collect the larger blankets some leave behind and save them for those who may arrive at any given time.
“We are trying to keep things tidy. Aguilera said to make sure trash is being picked up, keeping the space clean and creating an environment where they can feel safe.
Others near the Greyhound station are Diaz, her family and her sister’s family. A total of 11 people, including adults and their toddler to teenage children, have been in El Paso for about a week, unable to afford bus tickets for each of them.
Afraid of getting separated, they spent most nights on the streets after shelters wouldn’t accept all of them or denied them entry for not having arranged travel out of El Paso. There have been countless times when Diaz’s husband Carlos Pavón Flores, can only hold their daughter Esther in his arms, in silence. He wants her to be warm and safe.
Daniel Banda tends to a once-quiet convenience store and gas station near the edge of downtown El Paso. The building, sitting across the street from another bus station and two blocks from the Greyhound station, has become the first stop for many migrants looking for food and water after being released from Border Patrol custody.
And the 20-year-old, who used to spend his days solely cleaning and restocking shelves, might be the first El Paso resident who is not a government official that many migrants encounter.
Some people want to know if the store will exchange pesos for dollars, if they will be able to call their relatives, if they can buy clothes at a store with a clean restroom, and if the store will have directions to a store where they can buy clothes. At times, the constant traffic could be hectic, Banda says, but he understands the precarious situation migrants are experiencing.
“I come from a modest background and my family has taught me to help in any way I can,” Banda said. “And they are kind and respectful of each other.” They are good people and better than some locals.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2022/12/us/el-paso-crossings-migrant-stories-reaj-cnnphotos/
Assisting displaced immigrants in a Mexican-American grocery store, Banda, to the city of El Paso, Calif., with the Opportunity Center for the Homeless
A few feet away from the store, dozens of people are camping on the sidewalk. In the past two months, the number of people in the area has increased considerably, he says. Some have been sleeping there for nearly a week while others arrived no more than a day ago.
Because Banda often talks with his family about what his interactions are with migrants at the store, he says his mother has started collecting blankets to donate and talking with her employers and acquaintances about how they can also help.
When a white bus brought 25 immigrants who had just been released from immigration custody at the doorstep of a shelter near El Paso without prior notice, staff members rushed to pick up intake forms and pens to greet them.
The facility is one of five homeless shelters that have been either at capacity or over capacity with the arrival of migrants, said John Martin, deputy director of the Opportunity Center for the Homeless, which runs the shelters.
Martin and his staff are among the dozens of people working for nonprofits, religious groups, immigrant advocates, and other groups that have stepped up to help migrants and are close to reaching their breaking point.
In a news release, the city said they had identified “mass shelter facilities” that would accommodate between 1,000 and 2000 people and that would provide essential services. The Red Cross will be available to help when needed, city officials said. The city’s airport is being used as a shelter for migrants with plane tickets to other destinations in the United States, officials said.
“We may get 30 on their way and all of a sudden, I’ve got 50 that come in right behind them. Martin said that we’d never be able to catch up at this rate.
As the days pass and the number of migrants continues increasing, Martin is unsure of the shelter’s future and says he worries they would have to make a decision that goes against the shelter’s very own mission.
The Opportunity Center will probably come to a point where we don’t have enough room to hold them, so that’s where we’ll probably be in the next day or two. And we’re going to have to say no.”
In Ciudad Jures, shelters have quickly reached capacity even though more and more facilities have opened in recent months. The shelters provide a point of convergence between those who are being expelled from the US and those who are still waiting for the end of Title 42 expulsions.
Matamoros and her family have been living at a church shelter for the past six months. The 28-year-old mother says gang violence and extortion made them afraid for their and their children’s lives, but she had found success selling used plus-size clothing.
Matamoros hopes that with the support of a sponsor, she will soon be processed to enter the US, despite being in so much need.
“You ask yourself why other people are crossing and you are not, why others have that opportunity and why there are people who waste their chances when there’s people like us who are at risk,” Matamoros says.
El Paso crossings migrant stories reaj Cnn photos: Emir Eduardo Sanchez Mendez’s story of crossing the border with the Biden administration
Families from other countries traveled to the shelter for the night and spent the morning arranging chairs and hanging up Christmas lights in preparation for their traditional Mexican Christmas celebration, called a posada or search for a room in Bethlehem. Matamoros thinks it will make her two sons laugh and forget about their demoralizing journey.
“I want this to end soon. My children need a stable home so they go to school, have a normal life, and go to bed when they want. They should not suffer anymore.
When Emir Eduardo Sanchez Mendez reached the south side of the Rio Grande banks, he put down a metal tray with doughnuts on the ground and took his socks off before picking up the tray again. In a matter of seconds, he managed to dip his feet in the freezing water and step on a series of rocks that led him to US land without dropping the tray.
He’s repeated this ordeal dozens of times a day, carrying pizza boxes, packs of water bottles and more knowing he can’t go further into the US because of his nationality.
The 30-year-old Venezuelan has been selling food and water to the migrants lining up close to the border wall in El Paso. Venezuelans had been previously exempt from Title 42, but the Biden administration started applying it to them in October.
“It’s our turn to simply wait and see what happens with us (Venezuelans). “We have to survive here on the other side of the border, and that’s why we work here.” said the man who has been waiting for the end of Title 42 for a week.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2022/12/us/el-paso-crossings-migrant-stories-reaj-cnnphotos/
The hunger and the need at the border in El Paso, Venezuela, according to Blake Barrow, the chief executive director of RMT El Pasco, Mexico
He spends most of his day walking down the line of people, his voice echoes as he yells “el agua, el agua se acaba” (the water, the water is running out) trying to sell the water bottles he and his friends bought together. It’s their way of making some money or as some Venezuelans say “buscar la moneda” to eat and one day continue their journey up North.
The migrants have told the reporters they are from their home country. Some of them said they were kidnapped and then made it to the border.
Blake Barrow, chief executive director of Rescue Mission of El Paso, said the need is greater than anything he’s seen in 25 years running the homeless shelter.
I have never seen anything like this before. We were not built for this type of a situation,” Barrow told CNN. We have people in need of our help and we’re doing everything we can.
The situation at the border is different now than it has been in the past, according to Mario D’Agostino.
Before, he said, increases in migrant populations crossing the border were gradual and over a series of months. He said it was rapid and over a few days.
The Department of Homeland Security says it’s deployed additional agents to the region, claiming that criminal smuggling organizations are behind the influx.
The City of El Paso, Texas, is Not Going to Reopen until the Supreme Court Acts on Decay of the State of Emergency
The mayor of El Paso declared a state of emergency Saturday due to a surge of migrants who are living in unsafe conditions.
On Tuesday, National Guard units, including military vehicles, and members of the Texas Department of Public Safety lined up along the Rio Grande in El Paso, a show of force that left some local officials frustrated. The Texas National Guard announced on Monday that it had deployed assets from the 136th Airlift Wing in Fort Worth to ferry soldiers and equipment to the border.
“I do not want these initiatives to turn into policing simply because of political overtures or political opportunities,” said Ricardo Samaniego, the El Paso county judge. He said he had been told that the show of force was a training exercise and that it was unclear how long the group would remain at the border.
At the same time, Mr. Biden and his team have been under intense fire from Republicans, who accuse the administration of being too lenient at the border. House Republicans, who will be in the majority next year, have promised to investigate — and seek to impeach — Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security.
The state of Texas sent National Guard troops to the border, and San DIEGO businesses expected a wave of Christmas shoppers from Mexico as tens of thousands of asylum-seekers wait for the Supreme Court ruling.
Yet the government also asked the court to give it some time to prepare if it decides to allow the restrictions to be lifted. The government would like to have restrictions in place until the end of the year if the Supreme Court makes a decision before Friday. If the court acts on Friday or later, the government wants the limits to remain until the second business day following such an order.
Conservative-leaning states appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that an increased numbers of migrants would take a toll on public services such as law enforcement and health care and warned of an “unprecedented calamity” at the southern border. They said the federal government has no plan to deal with an increase in migrants.
Despite the uncertainty of Roberts’ decision, San Diego returned to a sense of normal. The western half of the airport-sized pedestrian crossing will re-open to U.S. bound travelers at 6 a.m. Wednesday, according to the San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce. The lanes on the way to an upscale outlet mall have been closed to most migrants since early 2020.
The reopening comes “just in time for last-minute shoppers, visiting family members and those working during the holidays,” the chamber wrote to members. The area was still open to travelers from the United States going to Mexico.
Implications of the Trump-era immigration policy for the Mexican border city Reynosa, the Rio Grande Valley, to the U.S.
The federal government told the court that it had gathered more resources to the south in preparation for the end of Title 42. Increased security is one of the things President Joe Biden’s administration says includes more Border Patrol processing coordinators.
The Biden administration told the Supreme Court that the solution to the immigration problem can’t be a public-health measure that lasts for decades.
A few blocks away from the border, the clergy at the church-affiliated shelter said local faith leaders have been trying to open up empty space. On Tuesday, a gym at Sacred Heart Church gave shelter to 200 migrants — mostly women and children.
Thousands of migrants waiting to cross the US border, many sleeping out in the cold in overcrowded shelters if they wish to request asylum, are caught in a limbo since a Trump-era migration policy is still unclear.
Many, including mothers and sick children, are living on the streets, in abandoned homes and on sidewalks as they wait. “They feel desperate,” said Glady Edith Cañas, director of the non-profit Ayudándoles a Triunfar.
Just days before the policy was set to end Wednesday, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday put a temporary hold on its termination, temporarily keeping the Trump-era public health restrictions in place.
Thousands of migrants have used a common crossing over the past several weeks, after barbed wire was put up by the National Guards and state troopers. Migrants hoping to cross were told to head to a nearby bridge to be processed for asylum.
Thousands of people are waiting for Title 42 to be lifted in Reynosa, a Mexican city across the border from the Rio Grande Valley, and 4,000 are in two shelters, according to Pastor Hector Silva.
The Journey Across the Desert: From El Paso to Panama, CNN reveals the horrors of migrant crossings in the United States
A mother and son traveled through a 37 mile stretch of jungle in the hopes of making their way to Panama. Brian said he was helping his mother cross when she grabbed a branch and then she fell down a cliff and into a river.
Officials have predicted lifting Title 42 would likely result in a spike in the number of migrants trying to cross into the US, and border cities braced for a flood of migrants.
El Paso has hundreds and hundreds of people on the street and that is not the way we want to treat them, according to the Mayor.
The city of El Paso will use two vacant schools and three emergency shelter hotels as temporary shelter facilities for migrants.
City Manager Tommy Gonzalez said that El Paso needs to show the world the compassion they know for and illustrate the resilience and strength of the region.
A senior US customs and border protection official told CNN that policy discussions are still underway to provide more legal pathways to the people who make up a large number of encounters.
“I think there’s some that probably haven’t gotten the message and won’t until they cross,” the official said. “There are some already committed who will cross.”