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BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Shelters in the Texas city struggled to find space for migrants Saturday, officials said, as thousands of people suddenly began crossing from Mexico. poverty and violence.
The pace of arrivals in Brownsville seems to have caught the southernmost city of Texas off guard, putting it in the unusual position of expanding social services and keeping overnight shelters away from people. Officials say more than 15,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have illegally crossed the river near Brownsville since last week.
That’s a significant increase from the 1,700 migrants Border Patrol agents encountered in the first two weeks of April, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said.
Gloria Chavez, director of the Rio Grande Valley sector for the U.S. Border Patrol, said:
The reason for the increase was not immediately clear. Mr Chavez said migrants were frustrated by relying on a glitch-plagued government app that allows them to seek asylum at ports of entry. Some migrants who crossed the border this week cited other motives, including the threat of cartels that preceded the sudden increase.
The rise will come as a Biden administration Plans for Ending Asylum Restrictions in Pandemic EraU.S. officials say daily illegal immigration from Mexico could rise to 13,000 from about 5,200 in March.
Other cities far from the US southern border are also grappling with sudden and large influxes of immigration. In Chicago, officials reported a 10-fold increase in immigrant arrivals into the city this week. Here, 100 migrants are beginning to arrive every day and take refuge in police stations.
Brownsville is just across the Rio Grande from Matamoros, Mexico, where a vast encampment of makeshift tents houses about 2,000 people awaiting entry into the United States.
last week, some tents were set ablaze and destroyedSome migrants say cartel-backed gangs were responsible, but government officials suggested the fire may have been set by a group of migrants frustrated by the long wait. ing.
“The cartels were desperate,” said Roxana Aguirre, 24, a Venezuelan immigrant sitting outside a bus stop in Brownsville on Friday afternoon. She said, “I can’t be in the street without looking over my shoulder.”
In downtown Brownsville, families from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, and China strolled aimlessly, carrying their belongings and talking on their cell phones.
Some waited for the bus, while others were stuck waiting for relatives before planning to leave, but were unable to find shelter in the meantime. One Venezuelan couple said they slept in the parking lot after being turned away from their accommodation.
Brownsville officials issued a disaster declaration this week, following other Texas border cities that have done the same in the face of a sudden mass influx of immigrants. Including last year’s El Paso.
Brownsville Police Department spokesperson Martin Sandoval said: “I’ve never seen numbers like this before.
A reorganization of resources at the border will occur as the US Department of Homeland Security prepares to end its use of the public health agency known as Title 42. Title 42 allowed them to refuse asylum. Claim.
Since March 2020, the administration has deported immigrants 2.7 million times under rules that deny them the right to seek asylum under U.S. and international law on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. Title 42, known as Public Health Regulations, is due to end on her May 11, when the US lifts its last COVID-related restrictions.
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