Overflowing Shelters at Southern Border Brace for Increase in Migrant Flow

While President Biden attempts to deal with the record number of migrants crossing the southern border, Mexican charities on the other side of the Rio Grande are struggling to accommodate the throngs of people yearning to make the journey into America.Shelters for migrants in Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez are using all of their resources to assist the migrants flowing in from South and Central America. Although already strained, they anticipate that the flow will increase after the Trump-era immigration policy allowing the expulsion of asylum seekers at America’s southern border is lifted.With a capacity to house 500 migrants, the Casa del Migrante, a Ciudad Juarez shelter, is now handling up to 1,000 people a week, the facility’s director, Francisco Bueno, says. He says every space in the shelter has been “optimized” to accommodate all comers. “We have transformed common areas and car garages into bedrooms to be able to receive as many people as possible,” Mr. Bueno told the Sun, adding that his group has been forced to develop the ability to respond quickly to change.In 2022, border patrol has so far encountered almost 2.4 million migrants at the southern border, the largest annual number ever recorded. At the moment, the 22 shelters in Ciudad Juarez are harboring more than 2,000 migrants at a time. The director of the shelter Zorros del Desierto at Ciudad Juarez, Juan Rivera, said that at the moment, just like the rest of the shelters of the city, his is working at full capacity, assisting more than 150 people. The majority of migrants who arrive at the Mexican shelters come from Venezuela, followed by nationals of Guatemala and El Salvador, and from cities of central Mexico and Haiti. Mr. Rivera says his group has never denied admission to anyone who needed assistance. Yet, he says that they are getting ready for when the Biden administration lifts the Trump-era immigration policy, known as Title 42.“There’s going to be an increase in the flow of migrants,” Mr. Rivera told the Sun. “We will have to put together our resources to receive them.”While facing pressure to accommodate everyone who knocks on their door, Mr. Rivera says that, despite asking for it, the Mexican government has never provided the shelters with any resources. They must rely on what each member of the group can provide. “The little amount of money that all of us gather is donated to this cause,” Mr. Rivera said. At Washington, a district judge, Emmet Sullivan, ruled in favor of lifting Title 42, which was enacted in 2020 at the height of the pandemic. Hours later, the Department of Justice requested a five-week hold on the ruling to give it time to prepare for the transition. The policy is now scheduled to be lifted on December 21. “By knowing the determined date, we are able to seek for additional food resources, reserves that might be able to provide us food for the increase of migrants,” Mr. Bueno said regarding the lifting of Title 42. “Our main priority is to have food for everyone.”Mr. Biden, who has been struggling with immigration and border policies since he took office, has maintained Title 42 under the guise of dealing with the Covid emergency, and has been relying on it. Last month, he agreed with the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, that the tens of thousands of Venezuelans arriving at the southern border would be returned to Mexico. In exchange, Mr. Biden would double the number of work visas for them. In 2022, 187,716 Venezuelans arrived at the southern border, a 285 percent increase since 2021. “A phenomenon of this magnitude can easily overwhelm all three governments, local, state, and federal,” the head of Chihuahua’s State Population Control office, Enrique Valenzuela, told the Dallas Morning News. “We need the help of all nongovernmental organizations, religious groups, and international groups to meet the challenge.”The measure triggered the arrival of a large number of migrants to the border, and an overflow at shelters in Ciudad Juarez, according to local media. Yet, Venezuelans have opted to camp at the shore of the Rio Grande rather than stay indoors. They have campaigned for Mr. Biden to admit them into America. Banners at their campsites read, “Joe Biden, Venezuela needs you,” and, “SOS, President Biden, we came from Venezuela’s dictatorship.”This week, the mayor of Ciudad Juarez, Cruz Perez Cuellar, asked migrants to move into shelters, as temperatures in the city dipped. “We are going to insist, it is important that they take refuge, we will be respectful of human rights,” Mr. Perez Cuellar said at a press conference last week.In the meantime, Mr. Rivero says that they will continue to assist every migrant who seeks help, regardless of space and resources. “We will not let the numbers define our capacity,” Mr. Rivero said. “If anything, we will give fewer rations to each person.”

Overflowing Shelters at Southern Border Brace for Increase in Migrant Flow

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