As freezing temperatures from a coast-to-coast winter storm arrive in El Paso, Texas, some migrants who haven’t turned themselves in to border agents or officials after crossing the US-Mexico border are having a difficult time finding shelter.
El Paso is in the midst of a declared state of emergency over thousands of migrants living in unsafe conditions, as a Trump-era border policy keeping migrants out of the US remains in flux amid court proceedings.
The city has opened government-run shelters at its convention center, hotels, and several unused schools, but is unable to accept migrants who don’t have documentation from Customs and Border Protection, said El Paso city spokesperson Laura Cruz Acosta.
The city must follow state and federal policies, which she said require migrants to have documentation in order to receive shelter at government-run facilities.
If undocumented migrants show up at government-run sites, they’ll be connected with Customs and Border Protection to start the process of turning themselves in or are connected with shelters run by NGOs on the ground, she said.
Three men, who did not want to be identified, told CNN they have been expelled from the US multiple times in recent weeks and no longer want to turn themselves into border authorities because they have been refused legal entry so many times. The men say they crossed the Rio Grande and passed through border barriers without being detected by border agents.
Read more at CNN.com
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