Written by Sharon Bernstein
(Reuters) – A surge in migrants crossing the U.S. border from Mexico has pushed El Paso, Texas, to a “breaking level” with greater than 2,000 individuals looking for asylum each day, exceeding shelter capability and straining sources. The mayor stated Saturday.
“Town of El Paso has a whole lot of sources and we’ve got reached the breaking level now,” Mayor Oscar Lesser stated at a information convention.
The arrival of Venezuelan asylum seekers is basically half of a bigger wave of migrants who’ve traveled over harmful routes on buses and freight trains to Mexican border cities close to San Diego, California, and the cities of El Paso and Eagle Cross in Texas.
Migrant numbers have declined in latest months, and the latest rise has generated a brand new wave of political assaults on US President Joe Biden forward of the 2024 elections.
El Paso plans to open a brand new shelter, and on Saturday chartered 5 buses to move migrants to New York, Chicago and Denver, Lesser stated.
Republican governors in Texas and Florida have been criticized for sending immigrants to cities seen as liberal comparable to New York and Sacramento. However Lesser, a Democrat, stated all of the migrants on the El Paso buses have been voluntarily heading to the cities of their selection.
Lesser stated Biden was an excellent companion. However he stated the U.S. immigration system total is damaged.
He stated many migrants from Venezuela lack transportation to their desired locations, and whereas the present shelter in El Paso solely homes 400 individuals, it should even be obtainable to assist the homeless.
Simply six weeks in the past, 350 to 400 individuals have been crossing the border into El Paso day by day, however the previous few days have introduced 2,000 or extra.
Over the previous 10 days, town has labored with the U.S. Border Patrol to offer shelter to about 6,500 individuals, Lesser stated.
About two-thirds of these crossing into El Paso presently are single males, he stated. About 32% of them are households and solely 2% are unaccompanied youngsters.
“I feel it is actually vital to notice that we’ve got a damaged immigration system,” he stated. “It is the identical factor again and again.”
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Enhancing by David Gregorio and Jamie Freed)