Mexico has made an agreement with the United States to deport migrants from its border cities to their home countries and take several actions to deter migrants as part of a new effort to combat the recent surge in border crossings.
Mexican officials met with US Customs and Border Protection officials on Friday in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico – across the border from El Paso, Texas – following the recent spike in illegal crossings into the US that temporarily closed an international bridge and paused Mexico’s main cargo train system.
As part of the agreement, Mexico agreed to “depressurize” its northern cities, which border the El Paso, San Diego and Eagle Pass, Texas, where the mayor has declared a state of emergency. They will also implement more than a dozen actions to prevent migrants from risking their lives by using the railway system to reach the US-Mexico border, according to Mexico’s National Migration Institute.
Migrant crossings along the US-Mexico border are rising, surpassing 8,600 over a 24-hour period this week, according to a Department of Homeland Security official. That’s up from around 3,500 daily border arrests after the expiration of Title 42 in May triggered new consequences for those who cross the border illegally. There were more than 8,000 apprehensions on Monday.
Non-profits and officials in border communities on both sides of the US-Mexico line, from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, say the current spike in migration could be driven by misinformation and an increase in kidnappings in Mexico, among other things.
The busiest sectors are Del Rio, El Paso, Lower Rio Grande Valley and Tucson; each facing more than 1,000 encounters over the last 24 hours, according to the official. Eagle Pass is in the Del Rio sector.
About 6,500 migrants are in custody in El Paso alone, which “only has so many resources,” Mayor Oscar Leeser said at the news conference Saturday.
“We have come to what we look at (as) a breaking point right now,” the mayor said.
An overflow shelter in the northeast part of the city planned to open its doors Saturday evening as the city faces an unprecedented surge of migrants crossing the southern US border, Deputy City Manager Mario D’Agostino said in a news conference.
The shelter, which will operate out of the Nations Tobin Recreation Center, has been prepped over the “last couple weeks,” D’Agostino said. The facility can hold about 400 people.
Source : CNN
