El Paso (USA), May 9 (EFE).- Hundreds of migrants wait under the sun, in front of the gates of the border fence that separates Mexico from the United States, for the authorities to deport them or process them, two days from that title 42 expires, the norm that allows hot expulsions for reasons of public health.
Gate 42, located about 18 kilometers east of El Paso, opens this noon, but only slightly, to let through some Border Patrol guards who cross it.
On the other side of the metal fence five and a half meters high, with no shade to shelter from the sun except for some plastic, half a thousand migrants wait beyond the iron fence, but closer to the Rio Grande, which marks the border between the two countries. .
They have turned themselves in to border patrols and now the US authorities will have to decide whether to expel them by express route applying Title 42 or whether to accept that they begin the asylum application process.
An agent of these patrols, who speaks on condition of anonymity, assures that the number of daily arrests or “encounters” in the month of May has been 1,150 per day, below the average for the month of April which, according to the patrolman, it was about 1,400 border arrests per day.
A few meters from the gate, the official explains that those trying to enter are changing places and that attempts to cross are moving to the east.
“Now we are preparing for the lifting of title 42,” he stressed, before specifying that they are increasing the capacity of the processing centers in El Paso and that they expect to have a new facility with a capacity for 1,000 people ready next June.
A “SIGNIFICANT” INCREASE IN MIGRANTS IS EXPECTED
Although he did not provide figures on the number of people they estimate will try to cross into the United States, he assures that SE is prepared to “see a significant increase in these numbers.”
The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott announced yesterday the dispatch of a special force of the National Guard and today he has released a photograph through his Twitter account of members of this state security force reinforcing the border with a concertina.
Not far from there, a helicopter flies over the border line to help with border surveillance work.
According to the agent, the border patrol has digitized the entire registration process for new arrivals and uses facial recognition technology that can identify anyone who has been registered in the last six years.
“The border is not open. If you do not enter through the ports of entry, you are entering the country illegally and, therefore, you are subject to the consequences, ”he warns as a message to those who seek a better life in the United States.
Likewise, he warned of the conditions that those who try to cross will have to endure, such as temperatures, which today reach 30 degrees Celsius, will soon exceed 37, or the fact that water is going to be released through the US canal that runs parallel to the border, which will make it very difficult to cross it.
NUMEROUS MIGRANTS WITHOUT PAPERS SURRENDER
Meanwhile, in El Paso, dozens of migrants who were camped next to the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, have turned themselves in today to the border guard, in the facilities located in the center of the town, next to the Paso del Paso border bridge. North.
They have made this decision after official sources assured that the Border Patrol planned to carry out a special operation to detain migrants in El Paso in order to repatriate those who cannot prove that they were processed and released.
Already this morning, authorities handed out pamphlets to migrants camping in downtown El Paso asking them to turn themselves in to border patrols, sparking speculation, fear and concern among them.
“You should turn yourself in at the nearest border patrol station,” said the note, which concluded by assuring that “in this place you will be processed by CBP officers and placed on the correct immigration route.”
