Migrant facilities along the US border are full with 18,500 people detained at four of the most overcrowded border crossings in Texas and Arizona.
Overnight, thousands more migrants crossed the border, cutting through sections of the border barrier near Lukeville, Arizona, and crossing the Rio Grande.
The processing center in the Del Rio, Texas sector, which includes Eagle Pass, a current hotspot in the crisis, has more than 5,200 migrants in custody, putting it at 256 percent capacity, NewsNation reported, citing US Customs and Border Patrol data.
Striking images of the camp taken by The Post show hundreds of migrants crammed into rows separated by orange barriers.
Many were wrapped in foil blankets provided by authorities to help keep them warm against the elements.
Elsewhere in Texas, the Rio Grande Valley sector has more than 4,800 migrants in custody, putting it above capacity, and El Paso has 4,300, although facilities there have been expanded to handle the influx.
On Monday, CBP hit a record 12,600 migrants encountered in 24 hours. Each month between August and October, more than 300,000 migrants attempted to cross into the United States, according to government data, a trend that is expected to continue through the end of the year.
The Tucson border region in Arizona is at 160 percent capacity with more than 4,200 detainees, according to NewsNation. Data was not immediately available for the San Diego sector of California, which has also been hit hard recently by a huge influx of immigrants.
Immigrants use aluminum blankets to protect themselves from the elements. Go Nakamura Locals in Eagle Pass are concerned about the influx of immigrants. Go Nakamura Nearly 13,000 people crossed the border in 24 hours on Monday. Go Nakamura Thousands of migrants try to get some rest as they wait to be processed by the US Border Patrol at a makeshift transit center in Eagle Pass. Come on Nakamura
Migrants are typically detained for a few days while they are evaluated by Border Patrol agents and then enter deportation proceedings or are deemed eligible to file asylum claims and allowed to enter the United States.
In Eagle Pass, migrants were seen crossing the river and surrendering to Border Patrol to seek asylum on Wednesday.
NEW: Video courtesy of TX Congressman @RepTonyGonzales It shows the inside of the Border Patrol’s “Firefly” tent processing center in Eagle Pass, Texas, this morning after mass illegal crossings. He tells me that the hand at the end of the video was that of a DHS official trying to block his view. pic.twitter.com/Yc3iIB8rds
—Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) December 20, 2023
U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-Texas) later posted a short video from inside one of the migrant tents, showing hundreds of people crammed into a small space as border agents try to organize and process them.
Meanwhile, locals said they are worried about the impact of the influx on their daily lives, including their safety.
Magali Urbina, who runs a pecan farm along the Rio Grande, says groups of up to 1,300 people cross the river to her property before the National Guard escorts them to the processing area, Fox San Antonio reported.
“It will not only affect us locally, but it will affect the entire United States,” Urbina told the outlet about his concern about when the new arrivals will be released.
The makeshift processing center near the Rio Grande. Come on Nakamura
“These people, the reality is that they have nowhere to go, they don’t have a plan, they don’t have money, they don’t have permission to work legally. Many things are going to happen because you can see that they are getting desperate,” he insisted.
Urbina’s concerns are twofold with the fact that Border Patrol checkpoints in the area are closed, he added.
She and other residents are calling for federal action to help ensure both residents and migrants are safe.
The Department of Homeland Security has not released updated figures on the number of people expelled from the United States, saying only that it “expelled or returned more than 300,000 people” between May and September of this year.
International freight train traffic on two routes to Eagle Pass has been halted as CBP agents have been diverted to process newly arrived immigrants.
For the same reason, operations have also been reduced on one of the two highway bridges that reach the city.
“Unfortunately, CBP is unable to support the operation due to the immigration crisis at our border. “It was our full intention to continue the operation in the hope that the migrant situation would be under control by the proposed date, unfortunately that was not the case,” officials said in an update published in the Eagle Pass Business Journal.
Many processing centers have reached more than 100 percent capacity. Go Nakamura “It’s not just going to affect us locally, it’s going to affect the entire United States,” one local said of the influx. Come on Nakamura
The problem remains serious beyond the Eagle Pass area. On Wednesday morning, Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin shared a video on X of immigrants huddled against the border wall in Lukeville, Arizona, part of the Tucson sector.
He said it continues the recent practice of human smugglers bringing power tools and cutting barriers to allow hundreds of migrants to cross.
The new arrivals come from other places, including India, Guinea, Liberia and beyond, Melugin said.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn