While overall annual numbers remain below average, this past weekend saw historically high numbers of migrants picked up by border force agents after crossing into the US from Central America.
More than 4,000 persons crossing without authorisation were intercepted by US Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) over the two day period. 55,000 families and 40,000 children were expected to enter the process this month.
The surge of families and children has tested both the migrants and the US authorities. Border patrol is doing what it can to avoid a tragedy at CBP centres. Facilities in which the migrants are held are not designed for an influx of this size nor for the detention of women and children. Those intercepted have been kept in open-air pens in a parking area beneath the Paso del Norte bridge, behind razor wire and fencing while they await processing. In some areas agents have passed the care of those detained to church-run shelters however if these are full there has been no other option but to release the migrants to the streets.
The numbers crossing are forecast to increase now the weather is getting warmer. It is thought that 150,000 migrants, many of whom are hoping to seek asylum, will be arrested every month for the next three months. Most are seeking refuge from violence and poverty, particularly in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, and are hoping for a new start or to connect with relatives in the US.
An operational crisis has been declared and 750 border inspectors have been temporarily reassigned to assist in the El Paso area. Border patrol have also asked the Pentagon for help. Troops currently on the ground do not have any contact with migrants, but merely carry out peripheral work. The CDP have asked for practical help with the processing of the large numbers of people, including the completion of paperwork however moving so many border patrol agents from other areas around the US will have the effect of weakening Homeland Security.
