2023-04-30 13:52:16
Authorities said more than 15,000 migrants, most from Venezuela, have crossed the river near Brownsville without authorization since last week.
Shelters in a Texas city battled Saturday to make room for migrants who US authorities say began abruptly crossing by the thousands from Mexico, testing a stretch of the US border usually equipped to deal with large groups of migrants fleeing poverty and violence.
The pace of arrivals in Brownsville seemed to catch the far south Texas city off guard, overwhelming social services and leading one night shelter to make the unusual decision to turn people away. Authorities said more than 15,000 migrants, most from Venezuela, have crossed the river near Brownsville without authorization since last week.
That number represents a significant increase compared to the 1,700 migrants that Border Patrol agents apprehended in the first two weeks of April, according to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials.
“It is very concerning because the logistical challenge that we were faced with is enormous,” said Gloria Chavez, head of the Rio Grande Valley sector of the US Border Patrol.
At the moment it is not clear what the reason for the increase is. Chávez said migrants have been frustrated by relying on a glitchy government app to request asylum at a border crossing. Some of the migrants who crossed this week cited other reasons, such as cartel threats that preceded the surge.
The surge comes as President Joe Biden’s administration plans to end pandemic-era asylum restrictions. Federal authorities have said daily crossings without legal authorization from Mexico could rise to 13,000 from about 5,200 in March.
Other cities, some far from the southern border of the United States, are also struggling with the sudden large influx of migrants. In Chicago, authorities this week reported 10 times more migrant arrivals in the city, where approximately 100 migrants have arrived daily and have begun sheltering in police stations.
Brownsville sits across the Rio Grande from Matamoros, Mexico, where a sprawling makeshift camp is home to some 2,000 people hoping to cross into the United States.
Last week, some tents were set on fire and destroyed. Some migrants said cartel-backed gang members were responsible, but a government official suggested the tents may have been set on fire by a group of migrants frustrated by the long wait.
In downtown Brownsville, families from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and China walked aimlessly with their belongings while talking on cell phones.
Some waited for buses while others were in limbo, waiting for relatives before making plans to leave, but finding no shelter in the meantime. A Venezuelan couple said they slept in a parking lot after being turned away from a night shelter.
Brownsville officials this week issued a disaster declaration, as other border cities have done in the face of sudden large influxes of migrants, including El Paso, Texas, last year.
“We have never seen these amounts,” said Martin Sandoval, a spokesman for the Brownsville Police Department.
The reorganization of resources at the border, in one of the busiest sectors with many Border Patrol employees, comes as the US Department of Homeland Security prepares to end the use of a public health authority known as Title 42. , which allowed them to reject asylum applications.
The government has expelled migrants 2.7 million times under a rule in force since March 2020 that denies the right to seek asylum in the United States and international law to prevent the spread of covid-19. Title 42, as the public health rule is known, is scheduled to end on May 11 when the United States lifts its latest covid-related restriction.
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