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Border crisis: US failure to respond to migration surge has created chaos
Source: The Guardian
Border crisis: US failure to respond to migration surge has created chaos
El Paso officials, aid workers and churches are scrambling to find shelter and legal counsel for a surge of Central American migrants
Amanda Holpuch in New York and Nina Lakhani in Mexico City
Fri 29 Mar 2019 15.16 GMT
US authorities’ failure to keep up with a steep increase in Central American families seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border has left El Paso aid workers, churches and city government scrambling to respond.
After a sudden surge in arrivals, migrants have been crowded into hotels, churches and even held under a bridge behind a chain-link fence and razor wire while their asylum claims are processed.
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) commissioner, Kevin McAleenan, said the number of new arrivals in March is expected to reach 100,000, including 55,000 family members. “The immigration system is at breaking point,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
The chaotic scenes in El Paso are the result of a regional crisis in which growing numbers of Central American families flee violence, corruption and poverty – only to come up against failed migration polices in Mexico and the US.
The exodus has only gained pace in recent months. Last year, border apprehensions dropped to historic lows, but in February CBP announced more than 76,000 people were apprehended or sought asylum at the US southern border – the highest number in a decade.
-snip-
El Paso officials, aid workers and churches are scrambling to find shelter and legal counsel for a surge of Central American migrants
Amanda Holpuch in New York and Nina Lakhani in Mexico City
Fri 29 Mar 2019 15.16 GMT
US authorities’ failure to keep up with a steep increase in Central American families seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border has left El Paso aid workers, churches and city government scrambling to respond.
After a sudden surge in arrivals, migrants have been crowded into hotels, churches and even held under a bridge behind a chain-link fence and razor wire while their asylum claims are processed.
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) commissioner, Kevin McAleenan, said the number of new arrivals in March is expected to reach 100,000, including 55,000 family members. “The immigration system is at breaking point,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
The chaotic scenes in El Paso are the result of a regional crisis in which growing numbers of Central American families flee violence, corruption and poverty – only to come up against failed migration polices in Mexico and the US.
The exodus has only gained pace in recent months. Last year, border apprehensions dropped to historic lows, but in February CBP announced more than 76,000 people were apprehended or sought asylum at the US southern border – the highest number in a decade.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/29/us-mexico-border-immigration-chaos