Mexico has made an agreement with the United States to deport migrants from its border cities to their home countries as part of a new effort to combat the recent surge in border crossings.
On Friday, Mexican officials met with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, just across the border from El Paso, Texas, to discuss the recent spike in illegal crossings into the U.S., which temporarily closed an international bridge and paused Mexico’s main cargo train system.
As part of the agreement reached, Mexico agreed to “depressurize” its northern cities that border El Paso, San Diego, and Eagle Pass, where the mayor has declared a state of emergency.
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Mexican officials have vowed to carry out a series of 15 actions as part of the agreement, some of the actions are in coordination with Customs and Border Protection and the railroad, which includes deporting migrants to their home countries by land and air.
The country stated that it will carry out negotiations with the governments of Venezuela, Brazil, Nicaragua, Colombia and Cuba to confirm receipt of their citizens deported from the U.S.-Mexico border. This will also enable U.S. border patrol agents to expel migrants through the Ciudad Juárez International bridge.
According to a Department of Homeland Security official, migrant crossings along the border between the two countries are rising and have surpassed 8,600 over a 24-hour period this week. There were more than 8,000 apprehensions on Monday, which is an increase from around 3,500 daily border arrests since the expiration of Title 42 in May triggered new consequences for people who cross the border illegally.
The institute noted that between January 1 and September, Mexico has deported more than 788,000 migrants to their home countries.
El Paso alone has about 6,500 migrants in custody and Mayor Oscar Leeser stated El Paso ‘only has so many resources,” at a news conference Saturday.
Deputy City Manager Mario D’Agostino said in a news conference that El Paso is receiving more than 2,000 additional migrants every day and is expecting a “large influx” over the next few days.
D’Agostino also stated at the conference, there is an overflow shelter in the northeast part of the city planned to open its door Saturday evening due to the unprecedented surge of migrants.
According to CNN, the U.S. The Department of Defense has been ramping up resources at the border including the Department of Homeland Security announcing Wednesday that it was sending at least 800 new active-duty personnel to join the 2,500 National Guard members already serving.
The Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Alicia Bárcena, emphasized on Friday at a news conference that her country is also facing challenges as the recent spike has Mexico receiving about 6,000 migrants daily at its southern border, half of whom are from Central American countries.
Bárcena also noted that one day last week about 11,000 migrants reached the Mexico-U.S. and announced that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wants to meet with President Joe Bidden in November in Washington to discuss migration as well as drugs and firearms trafficking.
