EL PASO (Dispatches) – The mayor of the Texas border city of El Paso has declared a state of emergency, citing the hundreds of migrants sleeping on the streets in cold temperatures and the thousands being apprehended every day.
Mayor Oscar Leeser, a Democrat, said the emergency declaration would give city authorities the resources and ability to shelter migrants who have crossed the Mexican border.
The move comes as El Paso has struggled in recent months to deal with tens of thousands of migrants crossing the border with Mexico. The city is bracing for a possible jump in migrant arrivals after a U.S. judge ordered COVID-era border restrictions known as Title 42 to end by Dec. 21.
A record number of migrants have been caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border under President Joe Biden, a Democrat who took office in January 2021, fueling attacks by Republican opponents who favor tougher policies.
U.S. border agents have encountered an average of more than 2,400 migrants per day in a 268-mile stretch of the border known as the El Paso Sector over the past week, according to figures published by the city, a 40% increase compared with October.
Even as government officials move migrants in El Paso to other U.S. cities, local shelters are beyond capacity and migrants have been sleeping on the streets as temperatures dip below freezing.
Meanwhile, many of the hundreds of people who crossed the border into Texas this week have recounted multiple kidnappings as they made their way to the United States.
According to testimony from the kidnapped people cited by Reuters, people were taken to at least two main locations and held against their will while ransoms were demanded.
Most of the kidnapped migrants were reportedly Nicaraguans who are encouraged by the knowledge they are unlikely to be immediately deported due to frosty relations between their government and Washington.