More than a week after the temporary ban came into effect, its impact appears uneven. Shelters in southern Texas and California have plenty of space, while 500 deportees from Arizona each day have overburdened shelters in the Mexican state of Sonora. said its directors.
“We have to turn people away because we can't, we don't have room for everyone who needs shelter,” said executive director Joanna Williams. Kino Border Attempt, It can accommodate 100 people at a time.
About 120 migrants arrived at the San Juan Bosco shelter in Nogales, across the border from the Arizona city of the same name. According to its director, Juan Francisco Loureiro, that number represents triple the number of nearly 40 before the policy change.
“We have had a very significant increase,” Loureiro told the AP agency last Thursday. The majority are Mexican, families and adults. Mexico agreed to accept deportees from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
A shelter in Agua Prieta, a remote town on the border with Douglas, Arizona, began taking in more Mexican men, women and children last weekend: 40 on Sunday, more than 50 on Monday, then 30 a day.
Like those sent to Nogales, the majority entered the United States west of the border, through the states of Arizona and California, explained Perla Del Angel, who works at the Exodus Migration Assistance Center.
“There's a lot of uncertainty” because of asylum restrictions at the border.
Mexicans make up a relatively large percentage of border arrests in much of Arizona compared to other areas. May help explain why Nogales is affected. Mexicans are usually the easiest nationality to deport, as authorities only have to drive them across the border rather than arrange a flight.
In Tijuana, the directors of the four largest shelters said last week that they had not received a single deported migrant since the asylum restrictions went into effect. Al Otro Lado, an immigrant advocacy group, spoke to just seven immigrants during the first full day of operation at an information booth at the main crossing where immigrants are deported from San Diego.
“What we have now is uncertainty,” said Paulina Olvera, president of Espacio Migrante, which includes families of up to 40 people, mainly from Mexico, and others who have had to sleep outside on the sidewalk. “So far, all we've seen is rumors and the impact on people's mental health. We haven't seen the returns yet,” he added.
Lack of resources and diplomatic limitations: Difficulties in implementing Biden's executive order on the border
Biden administration officials said last week that thousands of people have been deported since the new rule took effect June 5, which suspends asylum if arrested for illegal crossings, capped at 2,500 in a single day. Officials, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, were not specific. The restriction will remain in place until an average of 1,500 people are arrested daily for seven days.
Blas Nunez-Neto, Undersecretary of Homeland Security for Border Policy and Immigration, told reporters after the policy was announced, “We are prepared to send back large numbers of people in the coming days.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for statistics Friday and neither did the national immigration agency in Mexico.
Housing and feeding the migrants is a challenge
Meanwhile, Mexican authorities are picking up migrants and moving them south of the border.
Some advocates worry that more people will have to wait longer at shelters as they try to enter legally through the CBP One app, which offers 1,450 appointments a day. Some immigrants at Espacio Migrante have been trying to get an appointment at CBP One for eight months. Olvera said.
Casa del Migrante in Matamoros is now operating at about half its capacity A network of shelters across the city can accommodate up to 1,600 people. But as more immigrants compete for places through CBP One, its director, Berta Alicia Domínguez, is seeking help from the Catholic diocese and non-governmental organizations.
“Immigrants will have a shortage of food and we hope that companies can support us in this situation because feeding 500 people is a real achievement” Dominguez said.
Pietras Negras is across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas, a flashpoint in Gov. Greg Abbott's battle with the Biden administration over immigration enforcement. The migration peaked there in December when 1,000 migrants stayed at the Frontera Digna Migrant House.
The shelter had fewer than 150 people last Thursday, but Isabel Turcios, the shelter's director, worries about the unintended consequences of exempting unaccompanied children from Biden's order.
“We are afraid that many mothers will start sending their children alone” Dursios agreed.
They are asking the Border Patrol in San Diego to release almost all migrants from the Eastern Hemisphere.
