El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego told The Associated Press that the region, which is home to one of the busiest border crossings in the country, is coordinating shelter and resettlement efforts with nongovernmental organizations and other cities. He also called on the state and federal governments to send humanitarian aid at a time when he is preparing for a massive wave of new migrants beginning Wednesday, when the Title 42 public health measure is due to end.
This rule has been used to prevent more than 2.5 million migrants from crossing the border since March 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections.
Temperatures in the region are forecast to drop below freezing this week. On Sunday it was possible to see people wrapped in blankets donated by the Red Cross walking near the airport.
El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser issued a statewide declaration of emergency Saturday, allowing the border city to access additional local and state-level resources for setting up emergency shelters and other urgent assistance.
Samaniego said the order came a day after El Paso authorities sent a letter to Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott asking for humanitarian assistance to the region. He said the request was for resources to care for and relocate newly arrived migrants, not the deployment of additional security elements.
The judge said he has not received a response to the request and that if the city does not receive government assistance soon, he plans to issue a statewide emergency declaration detailing the type of assistance available in the area is needed.
The city of El Paso announced Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has pledged to send $6 million, but Samaniego said the region needs millions more to house, feed and shelter newly arrived migrants support. He called on the state and federal government to provide the additional funds.
“The strategy is already there, we know how to do it, the only thing we need are the resources,” said Samaniego. “We don’t need anyone to dictate how it’s done or how it’s done. We’re one of the safest cities in the country… We’re not asking for direction, we’re asking for resources.”
Samaniego said city and county officials have been working closely with nongovernmental organizations to temporarily house migrants while sponsors are processed and assigned, and relocate them to larger cities from where they can fly or travel by bus to their final destinations.
City and county officials will join forces with nongovernmental organizations at an emergency command center starting Wednesday, Samaniego said. Similar command centers were previously set up to respond to COVID-19 and after the 2019 massacre at a Walmart store in El Paso.
Neither Abbott nor El Paso city officials immediately responded to requests for comment.
Abbott has committed billions of dollars to “Operation Lone Star,” an unprecedented border security effort that has bused migrants into “sanctuaries” like New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., along with a massive state presence of agents and the National Guard along the Texas-Mexico border.
Additionally, the Republican governor has spurred efforts to build former President Donald Trump’s border wall on private land along the border with Mexico, raising funds to fund the project.
Of the nine border protection sectors along the border with Mexico, El Paso was the fifth largest until last March and suddenly became by far the most popular in October, surpassing Del Rio, Texas, which in turn had replaced the Rio Grande Valley at breakneck speed by the end last year.
The recent surge in activity in El Paso — first by Venezuelans and more recently by Nicaraguans — recalled a brief period in 2019 when the western tip of Texas and the eastern reaches of New Mexico were quickly overwhelmed by the arrival of migrants from Cuba and Central America. El Paso has been a relatively quiet area for illegal border crossings for years.
It is not known why El Paso has become such a strong magnet, especially in September. Nicolas Palazzo, an attorney with the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, a nonprofit advocacy group in El Paso, suspects traffickers have found this to be a good place to conduct their operations, reflecting popular belief. Border Patrol, with limited ability to temporarily move agents around, has a hard time keeping up with such tactics.
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Coronado reported from Austin, Texas.
FONT: Associated Press