![]() “We are at a situation we’ve never been at before.” The US is seeing an uptick in migrants and asylum seekers at its southern border ‘It may not be enough’ Nicholls said officials have already told him they plan to release 141 people in Yuma County on Friday. “The question keeps coming up: ‘What now?’ I’ve been asking that question for two years, with no answers,” Nicholls said. Most migrants and asylum seekers are transported to shelters operated by non-profit organisations farther away from the border, but border officials will release them into communities if enough transportation is not available. Mayor Doug Nicholls asked that the federal government declare a national disaster so that Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) resources and National Guard troops can be rushed to his and other small border communities. Hundreds who entered the Yuma area by crossing the Colorado River early on Thursday surrendered to border agents, who later brought adults and children to buses. ‘What now?’Īuthorities in the remote desert community of Yuma, Arizona, expressed alarm after the average daily number of arrivals grew this week from 300 to 1,000. ![]() “We asked for asylum in Mexico and after four months they denied us.”Ī Salvadoran man who gave his name as David moved away from the border and back into Ciudad Juarez for fear of being deported. “And now will it be better or worse for us?” Congo asked. The numbers were notably lower than in recent days.Įcuadorians Washington Javier Vaca and his wife, Paulina Congo, along with their two children, ages 14 and seven, knew nothing about the change in rules. Hundreds of prospective immigrants lined up next to the border wall in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, were still crossing over on Thursday and being received by the US Border Patrol in the hours before the Title 42 restrictions were lifted. Migrants arrive at a gate in the border fence after crossing from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico into El Paso, Texas, May 11 ‘Will it be better or worse for us?’ “I don’t know what to think now, having made such a difficult journey to now find ourselves with this,” she said, motioning towards the opposite shore where at least a dozen Texas state troopers with rifles stood behind concertina wire.įrom the Mexico side, Texas National Guard members could be seen reinforcing another stretch of wire to keep migrants out. Later, Duran could be seen walking along the levee with other migrants who had crossed the Rio Grande and passed the barbed wire. They crossed the treacherous Darien Gap dividing Colombia and Panama and then a half-dozen more countries before arriving at the US border. Mexican immigration officials were trying to move people to an improvised camp and away from a spot where they could wade across the Rio Grande.ĭuran said she dropped out of college when her parents could no longer afford it and set out for the US with a group of friends and relatives. Maria Jose Duran, a 24-year-old student from Venezuela, was on the verge of tears as she sat on a riverbank in Matamoros, Mexico. “Not any more, it’s over,” he told them in a firm voice, instructing them to go to bridges 16km (10 miles) to their left or right. ![]() The family fled their coastal city in Colombia after receiving death threats and hoped to seek refuge in the US.Īfter spending the previous night in a hotel, they were eager to get to the border - “to get in and go with the help of God and baby Jesus”, Guevara said.īut when they arrived with just hours before the end of Title 42, a US immigration officer said they could not pass. She was accompanied by her two children, ages 16 and 5, and her husband. Migrants cross the Rio Grande River to the US, from Matamoros, Mexico, May 11 ‘It’s over’Īylin Guevara, 45, hurried her steps as she walked through the scorching desert of Ciudad Juarez towards the border. Here are some of the stories that have marked the past few days along the 3,140km (1,950-mile) international border. Large numbers of migrants and refugees rushed to the border in hopes of seeking protection in the US in advance of the expiration of Title 42 late on Thursday, as new restrictions on asylum also came into effect.Īt the same time, President Joe Biden’s administration had dispatched additional troops and other resources as authorities braced for an influx of arrivals. Attention once again turned to the US-Mexico border this week as a pandemic-era policy in the United States that allowed authorities to rapidly expel most asylum seekers under the pretext of public health expired. ![]()
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