US Border Cities Panic As End Of Trump-Era Immigration Policy Looms

Even with the Supreme Court’s temporary block, Towns along the US southern border – particularly El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez in Mexico, are going into panic mode as a Trump-era immigration law is set to expire this week, which could lead to as many as 5,000 or more new migrants per day pouring across into the United States, according to the Associated Press.

On Sunday, El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego told AP that the region, one of the busiest border crossings in the country, was scrambling to coordinate relocation efforts with groups and other cities, and have reached out to state and federal officials for humanitarian aid, as the Trump-era Title 42 is set to end on Wednesday – a rule which has deterred an estimated 2.5 million migrants from coming into the US since March, 2000.

“You have a lot of pent-up pain,” said Dylan Corbett, director of the Hope Border Institute, a Catholic organization helping migrants in both El Paso and Juarez, which started a clinic two months ago. “I’m afraid of what’s going to happen.“

On Saturday, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, a Democrat, issued a state of emergency to gain access to additional local and state resources to help with the surge. The funds will be used to build shelters and provide other ‘urgently needed’ assistance.

Accordingto Judge Samaniego, the order came one day after El Paso officials asked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in a letter for assistance for the region – which would include taking care of and relocating newly arrived migrants, vs. sending additional security forces.

El Paso officials have been coordinating with organizations to provide temporary housing for migrants while they are processed and given sponsors and relocate them to bigger cities where they can be flown or bused to their final destinations, Samaniego said. As of Wednesday, they will all join forces at a one-stop emergency command center, Samaniego said, similarly to their approach to the COVID-19 emergency.

Abbott has committed billions of dollars to “Operation Lone Star,” an unprecedented border security effort that has included busing migrants to so-called sanctuary cities like New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., as well as a massive presence of state troopers and National Guard along the Texas-Mexico border.

Additionally, the Republican Texas governor has pushed continued efforts to build former President Donald Trump’s wall using mostly private land along the border and crowdsourcing funds to help pay for it. -AP

According to the report, El Paso was the 5th busiest immigration corridor out of the Border Patrol’s nine sectors as recently as March, and jumped to #1 in October ahead of Del Rio, Texas.