By EFE
11 Oct 2023, 7:59 PM EDT
The El Paso City Council in Texas renewed for one more month the two emergency orders that allow the city on the border with Mexico to provide shelter on its streets to undocumented immigrants released by immigration authorities at the border.
The seven councilors unanimously supported Mayor Oscar Leeser on Tuesday night to maintain for 30 more days the two ordinances that allow the city to help shelters and community organizations receive hundreds of immigrants.
The ordinances were issued on May 8 and since then have been renewed to face the arrival of migrants, which registered an increase between the third week of September and the first week of October.
Border Patrol migrant processing centers in the El Paso sector were overwhelmed in recent weeks with up to 7,000 foreigners at a time.
The massive arrival of migrants forced the processing of cargo entry from the Bridge of the Americas (BOTA) to be suspended on September 18.which connects El Paso with Ciudad Juárez (Mexico), because it needed to “redirect” its personnel to help the Border Patrol stop the influx of migrants.
Processing at this bridge resumed on Tuesday but Customs and Border Protection (CBP) did not rule out that it could order another cessation of operations.
Several border cities such as Eagle Pass in Texas) and San Diego in California were forced to issue emergency declarations last month due to the increase in migrants released onto their streets.
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