El Paso Migrant Street Releases Imminent as Numbers Rise, Shelter Operators Fear Area nongovernmental organizations are again sounding the alarm on a humanitarian crisis looming at El Paso’s doorstep – fearing U.S. Border Patrol will soon have to release hundreds of migrants to the streets as holding facilities and shelters are bursting at the seams.
October 21, 2023 by El Paso Matters Leave a Comment
By Cindy Ramirez
Area nongovernmental organizations are again sounding the alarm on a humanitarian crisis looming at El Paso’s doorstep – fearing U.S. Border Patrol will soon have to release hundreds of migrants to the streets as holding facilities and shelters are bursting at the seams.
Many migrants have already been sleeping on sidewalks, alleys and other public spaces in Downtown, South and South-Central El Paso – some for several weeks – as they time out of shelters or are turned away because of lack of space.
“We’ve lost track of what capacity means,” said Blake Barrow, chief executive director of the Rescue Mission of El Paso, which shelters migrants alongside the area’s homeless. “We are beyond full.”
The El Paso Border Patrol sector is encountering an increased number of migrants, including Wednesday when several small groups crossed the Rio Grande into El Paso and requested asylum at the border wall. Many didn’t make it across, thirsty and begging for water as they walked along the Rio Grande before approaching Texas National Guard troops who stood behind the concertina wire blockade and shouted, “Push them back!”
Adding to that, the El Paso sector is also receiving migrants from other sectors – Tucson and Del Rio – in what Border Patrol calls lateral decompression, agency officials in El Paso confirmed. Border Patrol officials, however, didn’t respond to El Paso Matters’ inquiry about how many people in custody are transfers from other sectors.
https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/el-paso-migrant-street-releases-imminent-as-numbers-rise-shelter-operators-fear/
