“The problem of migrants belongs to everyone,” authorities and activists agree in El Paso

Local authorities and religious and solidarity organizations in El Paso, Texas hope to be included in the aid promised by President Joe Biden during his visit to the border city, one of the hardest hit by the current migration crisis on the border between the United States and Mexico.

“The problem [de los] The migrant belongs to everyone, it is not just from El Paso, it is a problem for the entire United States,” the mayor of the Texan town, Oscar Leeser, emphatically stated during a meeting with a bipartisan caucus of senators who traveled to El Paso, one day after Biden.

“Funds are needed and will continue to be needed constantly until something permanent is done.”

The record numbers of migrants Arriving at the southern border of the United States in recent months overwhelmed shelters and processing centers in El Paso, a town that saw an increase in arrivals during the last two weeks of December, close to the date on which it was due to end. Title 42postponed indefinitely by the US Supreme Court.

Faced with the overwhelming numbers, El Paso then declared a state of emergency, which it still maintains. “This is a problem that is not going to be solved in a day. That’s how I transferred it to the president,” Leeser said.

In his first visit to the southern border since taking office, Biden traveled this Sunday to El Pasowhere he toured the wall that divides this Texan city from that of Juárez, in Mexico, and spoke with local authorities and officials from the Customs and Border Protection Office (CPB, for its acronym in English).

“They need help and we are going to give it to them,” Biden said during his brief stay, marked by the absence of statements and during which not many details about his exchange with community leaders and authorities emerged.

A city on the edge

During fiscal year 2022, CBP reported a record 2.7 million arrests at the southern border. The vast majority of these were registered in El Paso, which is also known as one of the largest corridors for irregular crossings into the United States.

Title 42, a public health measure that allows those seeking asylum at the border to be sent to Mexico, has facilitated some 2.5 million expulsions since its implementation in March 2020, according to CBP data.

His imminent end scheduled for December 21, caused a spike in the arrival of migrants, who were waiting on the other side of the Rio Grande for their turn to enter the US. The city of El Paso then began to receive unprecedented numbers of asylum seekers and irregular migrants, who were not processed at ports of entry.

Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela were the countries that contributed the most migrants to the historic numbers of 2022. To try to contain this situation, the administration of the Democrat Biden implemented a “humanitarian parole” programalso extended to Haitians, which combines visa quotas with a reinforcement of measures against irregular entries.

According to data confirmed Wednesday by White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, “the number of people attempting to cross the border illegally in El Paso has dropped by more than 70% since mid-December.”

“We continue working to be able to attend to the migrant situation that has certainly been declining in recent days. We are pending what happens with Title 42, if it is going to continue, and if this happens, what we have to do do. We have deactivated some shelters, which we can activate again if necessary,” he explained to the voice of america the spokesman for the Department of Emergency Management of the city of El Paso, David Dueñas.

Although he warned that after Biden’s visit, “there are meetings pending”, he did affirm that they have “recovered costs from the funds of the Federal Emergency Management Agency” (FEMA).

“We think that after the president’s visit, the recovery of those funds can be done in a more agile way and that we can also have more contact with FEMA to be able to have operations in the future, in case there is another jump. like the one we had last week, or two months ago, we can have resources in advance to address the situation,” Dueñas said.

The official specified that the state of emergency in the city is renewed every 15 days. “We are in the last 7 days of that state of emergency, pending whether the city council renews it or if it is lifted for the moment,” he said.

“We cannot continue with this situation”

Venezuelan Kendry Herrero Maldonado has been sleeping rough for several days in the makeshift camp where dozens of migrants gather around the Sacred Heart Church in El Paso.

“I have been fleeing that country for three months. Due to so many things that are happening, we decided to emigrate. We do not want to make it difficult for anyone, what we want is to move forward and move forward, and take our family forward, we thank you very much for the support you are giving us. giving a lot of people here”, thanked.

The temple, located in the center of the city, has become the last refuge for irregular migrants after massive raids in recent days. For now, the perimeter surrounding the church is the only security for these people. Religious and activists assist by providing food, showers and shelter in an adjacent building to families and women with children.

“We do the best we can,” said Rafael García, parish priest of the Sacred Heart.

Good will is not enough, funds are also needed. “We cannot continue with this situation,” he insisted to the VOA Dulce Tovar, from the United Border Workers organization.

“We want the president to see the need that there is here (…) but also to help, to send support and help for the shelters, since it is needed. My mother works in the church and it is needed. The parents, they are contributing their grain of sand as they can, but the need is great right now, the support they need is a lot, they are paying the bills and they cannot cope,” he emphasized.

The same hope is held by workers at the Rescue Mission of El Paso shelter, who for 70 years have worked assisting the homeless, and more recently migrants.

“We are used to doing this type of work, but not on this scale. This is the largest number of people we have ever had, it is expensive and we hope to be included in that help (promised by Biden),” he told the VOA the organization’s director of marketing, Nicole Reulet.

The young activist explained that they keep a record of expenses to deliver to FEMA and be able to qualify for rent and food reimbursements. She affirmed that they are also sustained thanks to the generosity of the community, from which they have received a “wonderful response”.

“Being a border city, we all, personally, have family on the other side of the border who have gone through the immigration process to get here, we know how difficult it is. That’s why I think we understand on a personal level the desire to come to the US to have a better opportunity, for a better life”.

“I think it’s one of the reasons why El Pasoans respond the way they do, because we see migrants as our family, as ours,” he concluded.

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