Inside the El Paso City Block Where Biden’s Border Crisis Is Flowing Into the Streets
EL PASO, Texas — A single city block in downtown El Paso overflowed with hundreds of immigrants who illegally crossed the border and were released onto the streets by overwhelmed charity organizations.
Wednesday was supposed to be the first day in nearly three years that immigrants who came over from Mexico without authorization would not be immediately sent back under pandemic policy Title 42 — though President Joe Biden has expelled fewer than half since taking office.
BORDER BATTALION: MILITARY FORMS BLOCKADE ON US SIDE OF RIO GRANDE AS CLOCK TICKS ON TITLE 42
Republicans and even Democrats feared ending Title 42 could spur more people to come to the border because they do not believe they will be turned away.
But in multiple spots across downtown, migrants of all ages and backgrounds who have been let into the United States stood around after being discharged from federal custody on this side of the border. More than 10,000 immigrants who illegally entered the country were let out of federal custody and into the city last week, according to city data.
A 28-year-old Venezuelan woman who stood along a fence with her family outside the Sacred Heart Church told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday afternoon that she believed “right now [the border] is closed to everyone.”
Despite her view, she said she came across days earlier and was let into the U.S. — all in spite of the Biden administration’s announcement in November that Venezuelans who illegally crossed the land border would not be admitted under any circumstance, including to seek asylum. The only way for Venezuelans to enter and seek asylum would be to fly into the country.
The mother of three left her home because of the “economic crisis” in the South American country since the Maduro regime came to power.
“They only pay $20 a month. I have three girls, and that’s not enough to support them,” the woman said.
She left Venezuela on Sept. 25 and came across the border on Sunday. She and her family plan to go to Virginia but did not explain what they were waiting for. She said she is not seeking asylum because she does not believe the government is “accepting Venezuelans.”
U.S. border officials in the region are releasing immigrants directly to local nonprofit groups or transporting them to the airport, a senior Border Patrol agent in El Paso said in a text message, confirming what was seen downtown. The immigrants on this block were dropped off by nonprofit organizations that were unable to help them. The Sacred Heart Church on one side of the block had its doors locked Wednesday afternoon, and church officials were unable to be reached in person for comment.
The church serves everyone three meals per day and allows women and children to sleep in an adjoining building at night. Men must sleep outside even as a polar vortex moves into West Texas Thursday.
A second woman, a 24-year-old from Bolivia, said she also planned to travel to Virginia and was waiting for her grandfather to pick her up in El Paso. She said her journey to the U.S. took a long time.
A third immigrant, a man from Venezuela, said he would travel to Queens, New York. He said he would not request asylum because he would have to fill out a “bunch of paperwork” and would “have to get permission to move around the country.”
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But he was the most eager to speak about Biden.
“I like him. He’s doing a lot of things to [change] the law here, but Congress doesn’t support him,” he said.
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