(Trends Wide) — As Trump-era immigration policy remains in limbo, so do the lives of thousands of migrants waiting on the other side of the US border, many sleeping outdoors in overcrowded camps or shelters, hoping to cross. to apply for asylum.
In Matamoros, Mexico, near the US border in front of Brownsville in the southern tip of Texas, the migrants, mostly Venezuelans and Haitians, live in a large encampment, with tarp-covered tents and clotheslines hanging stretch between them. Some families have been waiting there for weeks.
Many, including sick mothers and children, are living on the streets, in abandoned houses and on the sidewalks while they wait. “They are desperate,” said Glady Edith Cañas, director of the nonprofit organization Ayudandos a Triunfar.
Others venture across the Rio Grande, which separates Matamoros from the US.
On Monday, some used inflatable rafts to cross, pulling a rope attached to the American side and bringing the raft back.
Invoked at the start of the covid-19 pandemic, Title 42 is a public health border policy that allowed US authorities to expel migrants at the southern border.
Just days before the policy was set to end on Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily put its end on hold, temporarily maintaining Trump-era public health restrictions.
Now, uncertainty hangs over those who wait at the border.
Meanwhile, on the westernmost edge of Texas, about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) northwest of Matamoros, National Guard and State Police troops line the side of the Rio Grande River in El Paso, and armed members of the Mexican Army line up in some parts of the other side, in Ciudad Juárez.
There, after crossing the river, wading through the discarded belongings of those who came before them, migrants have lined up for hours near the wall in recent days to turn themselves in to US Border Patrol agents.
When the sun went down, some built fires to keep warm, wrapped themselves in blankets, and stood in line.
During the night of this Tuesday, members of the National Guard and state police installed barbed wire to block a common crossing used by thousands of migrants in recent weeks. Those waiting to cross were told to proceed to a nearby bridge for asylum processing.
Four people were detained after they tried to crawl under the barbed wire, video showed.
Migrants continue trying to cross the border into the United States.
Elsewhere on the US side, shelters are full and still not everyone there is protected. A crowd of immigrants slept on the ground in front of a bus station this Sunday in El Paso, Texas.
El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser declared a state of emergency Saturday, due to the recent surge of immigrants who have recently arrived in the community and are living in what he described as unsafe conditions.
The mayor said Monday that he heard there were more than 20,000 people on the Mexican side of the border waiting for Title 42 to be lifted.
Drone footage showed a large crowd of immigrants lining up near the border in El Paso on Tuesday, with families and young children waiting near barbed wire and Texas National Guard troops.
Across the Rio Grande, in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, there has also been an increase in arrivals in recent weeks, according to Mayor Pérez Cuéllar. “This is a city of migrants,” he told Trends Wide.
Thousands are also waiting for Title 42 to be lifted in Reynosa, a Mexican city across the border from the Rio Grande Valley, including some 4,000 staying at two shelters and about 4,000 in other camps and surrounding areas, according to the Pastor Hector Silva.
He saw his mother fall off a cliff. He is one of thousands looking for a home in the US.
Migrants arriving at the border often go through arduous journeys to get there.
One of them, who gave his name as Brian, told Trends Wide en Español that he and his mother left Venezuela three months ago full of dreams of a life in the United States. He alone made it to South Texas.
Mother and son were traveling through the infamous Darien Gap, a dangerous 37-mile (60-kilometer) stretch of jungle through which migrants cross from Colombia to Panama. Brian said he was helping his mother across when she caught a branch and then fell off a cliff into a river.
Now, on his way to New York, Brian said he’ll never forget the look in his mother’s eyes as she fell.
Immigrants sleep on the streets in border cities.
US border officials have been preparing for the influx of immigrants
In the lead up to what was supposed to be the Title 42 expiration date, border authorities in the Rio Grande Valley were encountering between 900 and 1,200 immigrants a day for the past two weeks, a federal source told Trends Wide.
And a senior Border Patrol official said last week that more than 2,400 immigrants crossed into the US near El Paso every day over the weekend, describing the number as a “huge increase in illegal crossings” in the area.
Officials had predicted that the lifting of Title 42 would likely result in an increase in the number of immigrants trying to cross into the US, and border cities braced for that.
The Department of Homeland Security projected that between 9,000 and 14,000 migrants could attempt to cross the southern US border daily when Title 42 ends, more than double the current number of people crossing, Trends Wide reported.
Meanwhile, housing the arriving immigrants has been a challenge.
“I really believe that today our asylum seekers are not safe because we have hundreds and hundreds on the streets and that is not the way we want to treat people,” the El Paso mayor said Saturday.
Two empty schools in El Paso will be used as temporary shelter facilities for immigrants, city officials announced Tuesday, in addition to three emergency shelter hotels.
The city is also sending teams to the different areas where immigrants are concentrated to provide transportation and temporary shelter services.
“All eyes are on El Paso, and for this reason, we must show the world the compassion our community is known for and illustrate the resiliency and strength of our region,” said City Manager Tommy Gonzalez, it’s a statement.
Title 42 is frozen, but plans are still underway
The Department of Homeland Security released a plan for the scheduled end of Title 42 last week. It involved increasing resources for the border, including hiring nearly 1,000 Border Patrol data processing coordinators, and increasing resources for transportation, like flights and buses.
Despite the suspension that prevents ending the policy, the US authorities continue with the planning.
Emir Eduardo Sánchez Méndez, center, and Jean Martínez, left, crossed the Rio Grande to sell water and food to migrants who were lining up near the border wall. Venezuelans hope to apply for asylum when Title 42 ends.
“We carry on as if nothing has changed,” a senior US Customs and Border Protection official told Trends Wide, adding that policy discussions are still underway to provide other legal avenues for Nicaraguans, Haitians and Cubans. who star in a large number of encounters at the border.
As for what will happen this Wednesday if the expiration is still on hold, one official said there may be a “mini-raise.”
“I think there are some who probably haven’t gotten the message and won’t get it until they try to cross,” the official said. “There are some already committed who will cross.”
Trends Wide’s Rosa Flores, David Culver, Catherine E. Shoichet, Priscilla Alvarez and Ed Lavandera contributed to this report.
(Trends Wide) — As Trump-era immigration policy remains in limbo, so do the lives of thousands of migrants waiting on the other side of the US border, many sleeping outdoors in overcrowded camps or shelters, hoping to cross. to apply for asylum.
In Matamoros, Mexico, near the US border in front of Brownsville in the southern tip of Texas, the migrants, mostly Venezuelans and Haitians, live in a large encampment, with tarp-covered tents and clotheslines hanging stretch between them. Some families have been waiting there for weeks.
Many, including sick mothers and children, are living on the streets, in abandoned houses and on the sidewalks while they wait. “They are desperate,” said Glady Edith Cañas, director of the nonprofit organization Ayudandos a Triunfar.
Others venture across the Rio Grande, which separates Matamoros from the US.
On Monday, some used inflatable rafts to cross, pulling a rope attached to the American side and bringing the raft back.
Invoked at the start of the covid-19 pandemic, Title 42 is a public health border policy that allowed US authorities to expel migrants at the southern border.
Just days before the policy was set to end on Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily put its end on hold, temporarily maintaining Trump-era public health restrictions.
Now, uncertainty hangs over those who wait at the border.
Meanwhile, on the westernmost edge of Texas, about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) northwest of Matamoros, National Guard and State Police troops line the side of the Rio Grande River in El Paso, and armed members of the Mexican Army line up in some parts of the other side, in Ciudad Juárez.
There, after crossing the river, wading through the discarded belongings of those who came before them, migrants have lined up for hours near the wall in recent days to turn themselves in to US Border Patrol agents.
When the sun went down, some built fires to keep warm, wrapped themselves in blankets, and stood in line.
During the night of this Tuesday, members of the National Guard and state police installed barbed wire to block a common crossing used by thousands of migrants in recent weeks. Those waiting to cross were told to proceed to a nearby bridge for asylum processing.
Four people were detained after they tried to crawl under the barbed wire, video showed.
Migrants continue trying to cross the border into the United States.
Elsewhere on the US side, shelters are full and still not everyone there is protected. A crowd of immigrants slept on the ground in front of a bus station this Sunday in El Paso, Texas.
El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser declared a state of emergency Saturday, due to the recent surge of immigrants who have recently arrived in the community and are living in what he described as unsafe conditions.
The mayor said Monday that he heard there were more than 20,000 people on the Mexican side of the border waiting for Title 42 to be lifted.
Drone footage showed a large crowd of immigrants lining up near the border in El Paso on Tuesday, with families and young children waiting near barbed wire and Texas National Guard troops.
Across the Rio Grande, in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, there has also been an increase in arrivals in recent weeks, according to Mayor Pérez Cuéllar. “This is a city of migrants,” he told Trends Wide.
Thousands are also waiting for Title 42 to be lifted in Reynosa, a Mexican city across the border from the Rio Grande Valley, including some 4,000 staying at two shelters and about 4,000 in other camps and surrounding areas, according to the Pastor Hector Silva.
He saw his mother fall off a cliff. He is one of thousands looking for a home in the US.
Migrants arriving at the border often go through arduous journeys to get there.
One of them, who gave his name as Brian, told Trends Wide en Español that he and his mother left Venezuela three months ago full of dreams of a life in the United States. He alone made it to South Texas.
Mother and son were traveling through the infamous Darien Gap, a dangerous 37-mile (60-kilometer) stretch of jungle through which migrants cross from Colombia to Panama. Brian said he was helping his mother across when she caught a branch and then fell off a cliff into a river.
Now, on his way to New York, Brian said he’ll never forget the look in his mother’s eyes as she fell.
Immigrants sleep on the streets in border cities.
US border officials have been preparing for the influx of immigrants
In the lead up to what was supposed to be the Title 42 expiration date, border authorities in the Rio Grande Valley were encountering between 900 and 1,200 immigrants a day for the past two weeks, a federal source told Trends Wide.
And a senior Border Patrol official said last week that more than 2,400 immigrants crossed into the US near El Paso every day over the weekend, describing the number as a “huge increase in illegal crossings” in the area.
Officials had predicted that the lifting of Title 42 would likely result in an increase in the number of immigrants trying to cross into the US, and border cities braced for that.
The Department of Homeland Security projected that between 9,000 and 14,000 migrants could attempt to cross the southern US border daily when Title 42 ends, more than double the current number of people crossing, Trends Wide reported.
Meanwhile, housing the arriving immigrants has been a challenge.
“I really believe that today our asylum seekers are not safe because we have hundreds and hundreds on the streets and that is not the way we want to treat people,” the El Paso mayor said Saturday.
Two empty schools in El Paso will be used as temporary shelter facilities for immigrants, city officials announced Tuesday, in addition to three emergency shelter hotels.
The city is also sending teams to the different areas where immigrants are concentrated to provide transportation and temporary shelter services.
“All eyes are on El Paso, and for this reason, we must show the world the compassion our community is known for and illustrate the resiliency and strength of our region,” said City Manager Tommy Gonzalez, it’s a statement.
Title 42 is frozen, but plans are still underway
The Department of Homeland Security released a plan for the scheduled end of Title 42 last week. It involved increasing resources for the border, including hiring nearly 1,000 Border Patrol data processing coordinators, and increasing resources for transportation, like flights and buses.
Despite the suspension that prevents ending the policy, the US authorities continue with the planning.
Emir Eduardo Sánchez Méndez, center, and Jean Martínez, left, crossed the Rio Grande to sell water and food to migrants who were lining up near the border wall. Venezuelans hope to apply for asylum when Title 42 ends.
“We carry on as if nothing has changed,” a senior US Customs and Border Protection official told Trends Wide, adding that policy discussions are still underway to provide other legal avenues for Nicaraguans, Haitians and Cubans. who star in a large number of encounters at the border.
As for what will happen this Wednesday if the expiration is still on hold, one official said there may be a “mini-raise.”
“I think there are some who probably haven’t gotten the message and won’t get it until they try to cross,” the official said. “There are some already committed who will cross.”
Trends Wide’s Rosa Flores, David Culver, Catherine E. Shoichet, Priscilla Alvarez and Ed Lavandera contributed to this report.
