How El Paso is Handling the Influx of Thousands of Migrants

Migrants in El PasoScreenshot from Twitter

Recently, El Paso has seen an influx of migrants cross the border from Mexico and the city has taken steps to properly accommodate them. They have either bussed them to New York City or set up facilities to process them. Many of the migrants arrive without a final destination other than America.

In an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” Mayor Leeser said:

“The people are not coming to El Paso, they’re coming to America, and that’s something that’s really important.

He said the migrants were not on El Paso streets despite what television has shown. This past Sunday around 3 p.m., the El Paso police removed migrants who were sleeping near the Greyhound bus station.

El Paso migrantsScreenshot from Twitter

A Venezuelan migrant named Carlos Peña said:

“They just got there and told us you can’t sleep here, you have to leave or else you will be arrested."

Another Venezuelan migrant Kelvin Peña added:

“They came flashing their lights telling us we had to leave. We were like, yes, boss, we are leaving. It was a lot of people that had to leave. We would move further away because we really didn’t have anywhere else to go and they would tell us that we couldn’t stay here. We then moved even further, and they would tell us the same thing."

Leeser said:

"We put human beings on buses with food and make sure they get to their destination and make sure that we always continue to treat people like human beings,"

"We have about 50% of the people today that do not have a sponsor, they do not have money, so we’re helping and working to get them to where they want to go."

The city has sent at least 1,135 migrants on 28 buses to New York since Aug. 23. El Paso has shared passenger rosters and other information that busses from other parts of Texas do not. Governor Abbott recently told one bus driver not to communicate with the city it was headed for. This may be more common among other buses.

Local nonprofits such as Opportunity Center or the Annunciation House are helping El Paso manage the influx of migrants.

Do you think El Paso is handling the migrants well?