More than a thousand migrants in the north of Mexico handed over to the border authorities of USAfrustrated by recent asylum policies and shaken by a fire at a nearby immigration detention center that killed dozens this week.
A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said more than 1,000 applications that were turned in Wednesday in El Paso were being processed. This American city can be reached from Ciudad Juárez. In a statement, CBP said it was removing the immigrants under a coronavirus pandemic order known as Title 42.
The migrants said that a new application from the United States government, aimed at expediting the asylum process, has left them defenseless. Carrying children and belongings, hundreds of people rushed Wednesday afternoon toward a gate in a section of the border wall that has become a destination for asylum seekers and the smugglers who traffic them.
“Now, with the favor of God, we will get there,” Carlos Garcia said, pulling his young daughter along at a trot as he tried to get her name on a list that supposedly grants access to the United States. Some turned away for fear of arrest, but by late afternoon hundreds had formed a line along the steel barrier on US soil, Reuters reported.
Mexican prosecutors said Wednesday they were investigating the fire at the migrant center as a possible homicide. They had identified eight people who may have been responsible: two federal agents, a state immigration officer and five members of a private security company.
