The authorities in Texas’ El Paso are reportedly keeping an eye out for migrant caravans that are moving toward the United States border from Southern Mexico, in case they require any resources.
Several Mexican news outlets have been reporting about the caravans that left Chiapas, near the Guatemala border, earlier this month. These outlets also reported that more groups were getting ready to leave in the next few days.
Activists like Luis Garcia Villagran from the Center for Human Dignity in Chiapas said thousands of migrants in Tapachula were running out of money, couldn’t find jobs and were worried that asylum in the United States could become harder if former president Donald Trump won the presidential election next month, as per Border Report.
Villagran also mentioned that many migrants have stopped waiting for online appointments through the CBP One app.
“We are monitoring the situation so we can prepare for any potential contingencies,” Enrique Dueñas, spokesman for the El Paso Fire Department and the Office of Emergency Management said, as per Border Report.
“We don’t know what part of the border they’re going. They might as well go to El Paso or they can end up in McAllen.”
The first caravan group that left Chiapas on Oct. 5 was near Mexico City, while other groups were moving through the state of Oaxaca. Some reports stated that Mexican authorities detained 118 caravan members and sent them back to Chiapas.
Dueñas said that El Paso officials were staying in touch with Mexican authorities for updates. They have built a good working relationship during previous migrant surges in El Paso.
In the past, El Paso has sent city workers to help at shelters, placed migrant families in hotels, and helped arrange buses for migrants released from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Most of these migrants don’t stay in El Paso, Dueñas said.
The city set up a welcome center to help migrants who were released and had sponsors in the U.S. or had their own money.
The city also arranged buses to send migrants to New York and Chicago, while collaborating with the latter. These programs, along with a shelter at the former Morehead Middle School, have been on hold since the number of asylum-seekers coming to El Paso dropped a few months ago.
“Morehead is now the community readiness center, so it’s ready for any kind of emergency, not just migrants, that may happen in El Paso,” Dueñas said. “That space is now ours. If an emergency were to happen, it’s pretty much turn on the light switch and we’re ready to go.”
The federal government has paid back local governments for these expenses.
In the last four weeks, Customs and Border Protection has been dealing with an average of 430 migrants a day or about 13,000 a month, according to El Paso’s online Migrant Dashboard.
