Response to the City’s Migrant Crisis: Mayor Eric Adams and the Busing Campaign of the Juarez Border Patrol in the U.S.
Mayor Eric Adams has declared a state of emergency to help respond to the city’s migrant crisis, which he told reporters Friday will cost the city $1 billion this fiscal year.
New York City now has more than 61,000 people in its shelter system, including thousands experiencing homelessness and thousands of asylum seekers who have been bused in over recent months from other parts of the country, according to the mayor. He said more than 17,000 asylum seekers have been bused to New York City from the southern border since April of this year.
The government in the Mexican state of Chihuahua had bused a caravan of about 1,100 migrants into Juarez on Sunday afternoon, Mr. González said. 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.
“Once we finalize how we’re going to continue to live up to our legal and moral obligation, we’re going to announce it. Adams said that they are letting people know how they are going to find creative ways to solve the humanitarian crisis.
Abbott and others who favor increasing immigration restrictions argue that Biden administration policies have provided an incentive for more people to cross the border illegally. Some Republican candidates are promising more to crack down on illegal immigration if they win the elections.
The busing campaign has led to sparring between Abbott and Adams, whose administration has accused the governor of using human beings as political pawns and whose city has been long considered a sanctuary for migrants. The federal government was asked for more resources by the mayor. The White House said it is in touch with Adams and committed to FEMA funding and other support.
Many migrants who were taken into custody after wading into the Rio Grande have been sleeping on the streets of El Paso for days. They clustered in the vicinity of bus stations less than a mile away from where they reached US land.
The Times of Nicaragua Observes Implications of the Trump Era Public Health Policy for the Migrants in Juárez, Mexico
Before using anonymous sources, we have to consider what. Do the sources know the information? What motivates them to tell us? Have they proved reliable in the past? Is it possible to corroborate the information? Even with these questions satisfied, The Times uses anonymous sources as a last resort. At least one editor knows the identity of the source.
There was a lot of debate this week about how to respond to the expected influx of migrants when Title 42, the Trump-era public health policy allowing federal immigration agents to expel quickly, is still in effect.
The United States is limited in its ability to expel people from other countries 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. Border officials could also issue a warrant and a date to appear in immigration court, but that is a process that can take about two hours for each person and lead to significant backups, contributing to overcrowding.
The group arriving on Sunday included migrants who had traveled from several Central and South American countries and who were granted temporary legal status in Mexico that allowed them to travel freely in that country for 180 days, according to the head of the human.
“It’s difficult to have a concrete figure given that we are a transit city; many migrants arrive by air, land, cars and buses,” Gonzàlez Reyes told CNN. “We wouldn’t know exactly how many migrants are in Juárez right now.”
As freezing temperatures from a coast-to-coast winter storm arrive in El Paso, Texas, some migrants who haven’t turned themselves in to border agents or officials after crossing the US-Mexico border are having a difficult time finding shelter.
The El Paso Mexican Border: How many illegal crossings are coming in? A mother’s cry in the lead-up to Title 42
Moments before, the Nicaraguan mother of three children who is seven months pregnant, couldn’t stop her eyes from watering when the social worker burst into tears, apologizing for coming empty-handed.
In the lead-up to what was meant to be the Title 42 expiration date, border authorities in the Rio Grande Valley encountered between 900 and 1,200 migrants daily during the past two weeks, a federal law enforcement source told CNN.
And a senior Border Patrol official said last week more than 2,400 migrants crossed into the US near El Paso daily over the weekend, describing the number as a “major surge in illegal crossings” in the area.
“It’s something that we’re going to have to work with the UN and other countries to work through. He told reporters earlier this week that the situation had become bigger than the United States.
The reality of the impending deadline to end the policy is weighing heavily on this city as officials and community organizations already say they’re overwhelmed.
The director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center said they need to meet at this time.
“It (crisis) requires all of us to encourage our elected officials to do more and to really take a stance in this regard. It’s not something that we can just turn away from, we don’t have that luxury. She stated that people in the US need to know about this phenomenon.
CNN talked with people on both sides of the US- Mexico border about how difficult it is for migrants to survive in their home countries because of gang violence, and how locals help out when things go wrong.
Aguilera’s tent outside the Greyhound station in El Paso: a Mexican refugee’s experience in Central Central America
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.
It was an experience that marks me for life, because I was robbed, heard about kidnappings and watched people die when I traveled to Mexico.
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. Make sure trash is being picked up, keeping this space clean and just creating an environment where we can feel safe,” Aguilera said.
Others near the Greyhound station are Diaz, her family and her sister’s family. The adults and their children were unable to afford bus tickets for a week or so in El Paso, they have been living there.
They spent most of the nights on the streets because shelters won’t accept all of them and they didn’t know how to travel out of El Paso. Carlos Pavn Flores can only hold their daughter Esther in his arms when he is not present. He wants to keep her warm if nothing else.
Daniel Banda tends to a once-quiet convenience store and gas station near the edge of downtown El Paso. Many immigrants who have been released from Border Patrol custody go to the building across the street from another bus station and a couple of blocks from the Greyhound station to get food and water.
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 ask him if the store will give up its pesos for dollars if they sell access to a clean restroom and/ or 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.
“My family taught me to help even if it’s just in the smallest way that I can,” Banda said. They are very respectful. Some locals are terrible, but they are even worse than these good people.
El Paso, a neighborhood center for the homeless. A two-month stay at a shelter for migrants near the breaking point of the Opportunity Center for the Homeless
A few feet away from the store, dozens of people are camping on the sidewalk. He says that the number of people in the area has increased in the past two months. Some have been sleeping there for nearly a week while others arrived no more than a day ago.
Because of his conversations with his family about what he does with migrants at the store, his mother has begun collecting blankets to donate and talking to her acquaintances about how they can also help.
The staff at the shelter in El Paso rushed to pick up forms and pens for the men when a bus dropped them off outside of the shelter.
The shelter, which can comfortably accommodate 100 to 120, was housing 190 people earlier this week — a record number in the nearly 29 years ago since the Opportunity Center for the Homeless was established, Martin said. Martin said that they don’t want to say no to anyone.
Hundreds of people working for nonprofits and religious groups have stepped up to assist migrants who are close to reaching their breaking point.
The mass shelter facilities that the officials said they had identified could accommodate between 1000 and 2,000 people, with essential services including food, bathroom, showers, and transportation. The Red Cross will also be on hand to help as needed, city officials said. The airport in the city has been used as a shelter for migrants who have airplane tickets to other destinations in the United States.
On the future of a refuge for asylum seekers in the U.S., and a mother’s fear of being rejected by a sponsor
I’ve got 50 that come in right before them, if we get 30 on their way. Martin said that we will 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.
I think the Opportunity Center is going to arrive within the next day or two, where we don’t have enough space to deal with them. And we’re going to have to say no.”
In El Paso, a state of emergency declared in anticipation of the lifting of Title 42 lets facilities like schools be used to shelter migrants. The city of the state of Texas housed more than 480 migrants in its convention centre on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, according to city spokeswoman Laura Cruz-Acosta.
Matamoros and her family lived at the church shelters in Jurez for six months. In Honduras, she had found success selling used plus-size clothing while her husband operated a car shop — but gang violence, extortion and threats made them fear for their and their children’s lives, the 28-year-old mother says.
Matamoros has gone through many phases of desperation and shame in order to be accepted into the US with the support of a sponsor.
“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 amigrant stories reaj-cnn photos: Maria Maria Matamoros’ journey to the border in Puerto Rico
Families who traveled from other parts of Mexico, Guatemala and Ukraine spent the morning at the shelter arranging chairs, hanging up Christmas lights, and cooking food for a posada, a Mexican Christmas tradition that includes the re-enacting of Joseph and Mary’s search for a room in Bethlehem. Matamoros says it’s something that will make her two sons, 9 and 4 years old, laugh and forget about their demoralizing journey.
I want this to come to an end soon. My children should get a stable home so they can go to school, have a normal life and sleep whenever they want. I don’t want them to suffer anymore.”
When he reached the south bank of the Rio Grande, he put a tray on the ground with doughnuts and took off his socks. He dipped his feet in the water and stepped on rocks that led him to a landing in the US.
He’s carried pizza boxes, packs of water bottles and other things many times a day, because he can’t go further into the US because he’s not a US citizen.
There is a 30-year-old from Venezuela who is selling food and water at the border 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). In the meantime, we work on this side of the border to survive,” said Sanchez Mendez, who has been in Juárez for about a week waiting for the end of Title 42.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2022/12/us/el-paso-crossings-migrant-stories-reaj-cnnphotos/
El Paso: A Realistic Place to Live in, and to Fight Themselves. A Manifesto of the El Pasco Rescue Mission
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. They make some money by traveling North and eating “buscar la moneda” (literally, “to eat”) one day.
Many of the arriving migrants have told reporters they’re from Nicaragua. Some have said they were victims of kidnapping before making it to the border.
The need for homeless people in El Paso is greater than has ever been thought of by the Rescue Mission’s chief executive director.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. … Barrow said that they were not built for this type of situation. “But we have all these people in need in front of us, and we’re doing everything we can.”
Deputy City Manager Mario D’Agostino told reporters in recent days about 2,500 migrants have crossed the border daily, noting that the situation is different than past surges of migrants across the border.
Before, he said, increases in migrant populations crossing the border were gradual and over a series of months. He said this time it was rapid and over a few days.
The Department of Homeland Security says that it has extra agents in the region to deal with the influx.
The El Paso Mexican Border Crisis: Comments on a Law Enforcement Action Against the Trump Administration and Senate Minority Leader Biden, the Attorney General, and a Justice Advocate
The state of emergency was declared by El Paso mayor Oscar Leeser due to the influx of migrants who are living in unsafe conditions.
Since the first length of fencing went up last week along the Mexican border near El Paso, the Texas National Guard has installed over two miles of the barricade and is expected to build more, an agency spokesperson told CNN on Monday.
The El Paso county judge said that he did not want the initiatives to turn into policing because of political opportunities. He was told that the show of force was a training exercise, but it was not clear how long the group would stay 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.
As a Trump-era migration policy remains in limbo, so are the lives of thousands of migrants waiting across the United States border, many sleeping out in the cold in encampments or overcrowded shelters, hoping to cross to request asylum.
Many people, including mothers and sick kids, are living on the streets, in abandoned homes, and on sidewalks waiting for a ride. Glady Edith Caas, director of the non-profit, said that they feel desperate.
After an emergency request from 19 Republican-led states, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on December 19 put a temporary hold on Title 42’s termination, leaving it in effect until the court issues an order, which could happen at any time.
A Flood of Migrants Cannot Cross the Rio Grande Valley Without a Detection: a Case Study in El Paso, Mexico
A common crossing used by thousands of migrants over the past several weeks was blocking by National Guards and state troopers overnight Tuesday. Migrants hoping to cross were told to head to a nearby bridge to be processed for asylum.
Thousands are also waiting for Title 42 to be lifted in Reynosa, a Mexican city across the border from the Rio Grande Valley, including 4,000 who are staying in two shelters and an estimated 4,000 in other encampments and the surrounding areas, according to Pastor Hector Silva.
A mother and son were traveling through the jungle through a route that is used by migrants to cross from South America 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.
A flood of migrants is predicted by officials if Title 42 is lifted, and border cities are bracing for it.
“I really believe that today our asylum-seekers are not safe as we have hundreds and hundreds on the streets and that’s not the way we want to treat people,” El Paso’s Mayor said Saturday.
Two vacant schools in El Paso will be used as temporary sheltering facilities for migrants, city authorities announced Tuesday, in addition to three emergency shelter hotels.
The City Manager said in a statement that El Paso has the attention of the world and that it needs to illustrate the resilience and strength of the region.
Last week the Department of Homeland Security released a plan for Title 42. Increased resources to the border, like hiring nearly 1,000 Border Patrol processing coordinators, were involved.
“We’re going on as if nothing’s changed,” a senior US Customs and Border Protection official told CNN, adding policy discussions are still underway to provide other legal pathways to Nicaraguans, Haitians and Cubans who make up a large number of encounters.
The official said that there may be some that haven’t received the message, and won’t until they cross. “There are some already committed who will cross.”
A woman named Adda said that they weren’t allowed inside the shelter because they crossed without permission. We’re not using her last name, or those of other migrants who entered the U.S. without detection. Adda is from Venezuela and traveled to El Paso with a group of seven family members, including her pregnant daughter.
“We wanted to make sure that we were able to get everyone who was on the street off the streets before this cold weather hits,” said Mario D’Agostino, the deputy city manager in El Paso.
“We are sending buses out to their location to pick up people and bring them over to the convention center so we can free up the space,” D’Agostino said.
The journey of a family of Venezuelan immigrants in the Darien Gap jungle to Juarez de la Reina Sofia, the U.S. Border Patrol
On Thursday, the sidewalks near the Greyhound bus station were still lined with blankets and makeshift bedding as dozens of migrants tried to keep warm at night.
In reality, the restrictions have not been applied evenly because Mexico has refused to take back migrants from Cuba and other countries. Venezuela was exempt until recently, but they can now be expelled to Mexico under Title 42.
“We weren’t in the Border Patrol for fear of being deported back to Mexico, we were in it to get here”, says a woman named Gabriela. She and her husband Jean-Carlos crossed undetected with their four young children this week.
Hoarse from being out in the cold, she described their journey from Venezuela, and how they were separated for a time in the dangerous Darien Gap jungle in Panama.
Mexico was the most difficult part of their two-month journey. Mexican border officials stole the family’s personal items, and harassed them, detaining them for three days. They said they observed children being kidnapped off the streets. For added protection, the family continued their journey alongside three other Venezuelan migrants.
The group arrived in Juarez on the day before the Texas National Guard showed up on the Rio Grande. They watched troops spill out of a parade of Humvees and uncoil reams of razor wire. Wilfor, who was a part of the group, said the sight was unnerving.
The group crossed Tuesday night despite the rumor. They decided on a location that involves traversing the irrigation canal that was known for migrant drowns. They crawled through a hole snipped into a chain-link fence and then sprinted across six lanes of highway where the speed limit was 60 miles per hour.
Weather Forecasts in El Paso de Texas During the Winter Weather Festival: A warning warning against undocumented migrants crossing the Rio Grande
She said that the city must follow both federal and state policies if they want to get shelter in government run facilities.
If undocumented migrants show up at government-run sites, they’ll be connected with Customs and Border Protection to start the process of turning themselves in or are connected with shelters run by NGOs on the ground, she said.
Three men, who did not want to be identified, told CNN they have been expelled from the US multiple times in recent weeks and no longer want to turn themselves into border authorities because they have been refused legal entry so many times. The men say they went across the Rio Grande without being looked at by border agents.
Hugo Carmona, Associate Chief of US Border Patrol Operations, said in a video statement that there will be extremely cold temperatures along the Mexico and US borders in the next few days. You should not risk your life trying to cross a river or desert. Stay home or remain in a shelter if you can to help avoid deaths and tragedies. This is a warning of extreme importance.”
The deputy director of the Opportunity Center for the Homeless told CNN he had been unsuccessful in his attempts to get the convention center open to undocumented migrants.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/23/us/migrants-el-paso-texas-winter-weather-friday/index.html
El Paso Christmas with No Asymptotic Security. Holiday Traffic, Desperateness, and Misalignment for a Camp in Ciudad Juárez
At nearby Sacred Heart Church, officials said their normal capacity is 130 but are expanding to 200 for the next four nights and are prioritizing women and children, they said. The people are waiting outside of the church.
“We do have a moderate-sized airport, we have a couple of smaller bus terminals, but that’s not enough to keep up with normal holiday traffic,” D’Agostino told CNN’s Boris Sanchez on Saturday.
It feels like it could be any other Christmas in El Paso. Families who live here stroll through the annual holiday display downtown where a 55-foot tree glitters with ornaments and hundreds of thousands of tiny lights are strung everywhere. People snap photos near the life-size nativity scene depicting the baby Jesus in the manger.
As the Christmas story goes, there was no room at the inn for Mary and Joseph. Thousands of people crossing the U.S.- Mexico border are now without a place to sleep or stay.
Some churches have opened their doors to everyone over the last few days, even if they’re not allowed in, due to the cold. David Carrero has been staying at the church with his family.
Back at the bus station, local residents Adan Amezaga, his wife and two young daughters have given out gallons of coffee and more than a thousand sandwiches to migrants during the last several days.
Migrants are thankful for the kindness of strangers this holiday season, even though they did not receive the biggest Christmas present of all: the lifting of border restrictions that would have granted them asylum in the United States.
“Given the uncertainty, many decided to leave” Mexico and head unlawfully into the United States, the director of the Hope Center shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Elias Rodríguez, told CNN on Monday.
The migrants have told CNN that the conditions in the camp are dire. Some families have been waiting for weeks. People sleep under tents, unsure where their next meal will come from. Temperatures dipped below freezing over the holiday weekend.