El Paso, at U.S. border, flooded with migrants waiting for Trump’s expulsion order to be lifted
Thousands of migrants have flooded downtown El Paso, Texas, a U.S. state near the U.S.-Mexico border, a week before the Section 42 legislative provision ends, a RIA Novosti correspondent reports from the scene.
Earlier, it became known about the decision of U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration to deploy an additional 1,500 troops on the border with Mexico. As the Washington Post wrote, the sending of troops to the border is associated with the planned May 11 cancellation of the legislative norm “Section 42” introduced under the administration of Donald Trump, which allows authorities to expel migrants arriving from regions where there is a high risk of coronavirus.
It is expected that the repeal of this provision will result in a massive influx of irregular migrants to the southern border of the United States. However, the illegal refugees themselves, speaking to RIA Novosti, expressed the opinion that it will become more difficult to enter U.S. territory because restrictions under other immigration regulations may become stricter.
On the streets of El Paso, thousands of migrants are currently sleeping under blankets around the local Sacred Heart Church in unsanitary conditions. The city’s police estimate that about 1,700 people are housed near it alone.
“We have to sleep outside the church, frankly, it’s hard,” Manuel Godoy, a 38-year-old illegal migrant from Venezuela, told reporters.
He said many migrants in the church are waiting for additional immigration or travel documents from the authorities. He estimates that the migrants began gathering at the church about a month ago, but that a mass concentration of illegals emerged last week.
Most of the migrants are young men from Venezuela with and without papers, but dozens of women and children are also on the streets.
This is not the first time some migrants have entered the U.S. in order to remain in the country, after previously being deported by U.S. authorities.
“I was deported two weeks ago, 6,000 of us surrendered that day. They allowed only 2,000 women and children, the rest were kicked out to Juarez (a neighboring city to El Paso in Mexico on the U.S. border),” confessed Joseph Escobar, a 33-year-old migrant from Venezuela.
He said he is waiting for his family in Venezuela to send him money to get to Denver, Colorado, where he expects to visit a refugee agency that helps migrants get to their destination. Escobar plans to get to Chicago in search of work.
According to Venezuelan migrant Loli Gonzalez, who was one of the few women with children in the church, the difficult situation in her home country forced her to leave home.
“I have no family in the United States. I came with two children because the situation in Venezuela is difficult,” Gonzalez reported. “You can’t afford anything, even having three jobs. I want to get to New York to work and put my children in school,” she added.
The border security problem is getting worse
Earlier, El Paso Mayor Oscar Lisser declared a state of emergency, fearing a multiplier of migrants, and former U.S. President Donald Trump, under whose administration “Section 42” began to apply, predicted cataclysm for the country because of the impending influx of illegals.
Authorities in other border towns in Texas, including Laredo and Brownsville, have also declared a state of emergency to prepare for a possible worsening border crisis.
In El Paso, sections of the U.S.-Mexico border have been reinforced with additional temporary fencing and barbed wire on top of a high fence along the border. A large number of Texas police officers, U.S. Border Patrol agents and members of the National Guard are also present along the perimeter.
According to a U.S. Border Patrol agent, migrants without proper documentation that they have entered the country legally will be detained and arrested and will be dealt with in accordance with U.S. immigration laws.