Translated by Jesús Ronquillo / Circuito Frontera
Since last weekend, authorities from the three levels of government have been maintaining an operation in the “bordo” area, on the border between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, after the arrival of migrants to this border has intensified in recent weeks.
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This Thursday morning, dozens of migrants could be seen on top of the railroad coming from the city of Chihuahua, which was pulling empty gondolas, and in whose interior the foreigners were being transported.
The migrants set up the gondolas with tents and blankets to cover themselves from the sun, including children.
In this regard, the Secretary of the City Council, Héctor Rafael Ortiz Orpinel, informed that on September 22, authorities of the National Institute of Migration (INM), Francisco Garduño Yáñez, as well as representatives of the National Defense Secretariat (Sedena), National Guard (GN), the governor of the state of Chihuahua and officials of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), held a meeting where they committed to carry out 15 agreements.
One of them was that municipal, state and federal authorities, as well as U.S. authorities, would conduct tours of the border area to prevent the installation of camps on both sides of the border, informed Héctor Rafael Ortiz Orpinel, secretary of the Ciudad Juárez City Council, to Circuito Frontera.
He stated that although there is a perceived increase in the migrant population in the locality and that this is a social problem, it is a situation that has persisted for years, although he did not consider it to be a “migratory crisis” as such.
In recent days, the Secretary General of the State Government, Santiago De la Peña Grajeda, said in a press conference that it is estimated that there are around 12,000 migrants in Juarez at present. However, the secretary of the Juarez City Hall pointed out that it is a difficult figure to document, due to the mobility of the people.
In a press release, INM personnel informed that they would work in coordination with Ferromex to prevent migrants from risking their lives by using the train as a means of transportation to reach the U.S. border.
@circuitofrontera Así fue la llegada de al menos 400 migrantes a Juárez #migrantes #frontera #samalayuca #chihuahua #periodismo #noticiasen1minuto #noticias #ciudadjuarez ♬ Emotional Love – Azwar
In a press release, INM personnel informed that they would work in coordination with Ferromex to prevent migrants from risking their lives by using the train as a means of transportation to reach the U.S. border.
However, the arrival of more people in mobility has been imminent, as every day the arrival of migrants by streetcar along this border is registered.
He considered that actions are being taken in this respect, as well as it is necessary to work in coordination with the authorities of the three levels, as well as the U.S. authorities to face the situation.
The official mentioned that in this locality there are two official shelters, where the migrant population can go for shelter and where they also receive food, although these are not “open”, since once they enter they cannot enter and leave freely.
In addition, he stated that it is difficult to document the actual number of migrants arriving in this town, since there are multiple ways to arrive, and exact mobility data is difficult to obtain.
“Obviously, there may be situations that advance slowly. We are not talking about an issue that is solved in a simple way, these are human rights issues, people in a mobility situation, and many aspects must be taken care of. I believe that coordination is fundamental and I hope that this coordination is not lost, since all levels of government must be involved, regardless of who is responsible,” he said.
Although he did admit that there is a perceived economic affectation in the city after the closing of the bridges by border authorities, which has affected the import and export of the region.
Agreements made by authorities response to the flow of migrants
In the document it was stated that the INM, together with Ferromex, would locate the strategic points for rescue and dissuasion, in order to replicate the strategy used in Nuevo Leon, in which the Sedena, National Guard and State Police participate, as well as provide the means of air and land transportation for the return of the rescued migrants.
It was also indicated that they will have an INM coordinator for the actions carried out along the entire railroad route and the Secretary General of the Government of Chihuahua will be informed of the Institute’s statistics.
Also, the Border Patrol will hand over to the INM the migrants who have been expelled from the United States through the Ciudad Juarez International Bridge, while Mexican authorities will depressurize the Leona Vicario Integrating Center so that it can be used by other migrants in mobility conditions.
In addition, they will make arrangements with the governments of Venezuela, Brazil, Nicaragua, Colombia and Cuba to receive their nationals; they will continue with the “mirror” operation on the border between Mexico and the United States, through interventions on the railroads, highways and roadside rescues.
Likewise, open-door shelters will be set up in Ciudad Juarez to attend to migrants, especially children and adolescents; therefore, it will be necessary to locate and rent a building to replace the Ciudad Juarez Migratory Station, in addition to installing control and verification points on the Ferromex route.
Another agreement between the authorities was to depressurize the northern border of Mexico, corresponding to Ciudad Juarez, Piedras Negras, Tijuana and Tamaulipas, through the return of migrants; to deliver a daily report to the El Paso sector, through the INM Office in Coahuila, in order to warn that the train is going alone.
Finally, that the INM convene and coordinate a meeting with authorities of the three levels of government for the attention of the migrant population already in Ciudad Juarez.
How many migrants have immigration authorities detected?
El Paso, Texas is the southern U.S. border where most migrant apprehensions or encounters have been recorded in the current fiscal year 2023, according to official Border Patrol (CBP) data.
With a reported 364,092 encounters of migrants, this border represents 22.11 percent of the total number of apprehensions recorded by U.S. authorities along the southern border.
According to CBP data, from October 2022 to July 2023, authorities reported a total of 1,646,766,76 migrant apprehensions, with the Mexican population representing a third of the overall total.
While authorities of the National Migration Institute informed in a communiqué that, from January 1 to September 2023, federal migration agents rescued one million 469,787 migrants, and of this total, 788,089 were returned by land and air.
In addition, so far in September, 189,000 migrants have been rescued; that is, a daily average of 9,000. According to INM reports, people of 191 nationalities transit through Mexico, mainly from Venezuela, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, Haiti and El Salvador.
As for the railway system, from January to September of this year, 658 actions have been carried out in states such as Veracruz, Tlaxcala, Coahuila, Puebla, Estado de México, Nuevo León, Guanajuato, Chihuahua and Oaxaca, with a total of 8,988 migrants rescued.
In addition, 292 suspected human traffickers were handed over to the corresponding authorities.
It should be noted that CBP representatives offered Mexican authorities all technical assistance to address the migration issue at airports and other inspection points such as trains in order to reduce the number of people using these means of transportation.