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Laredo’s resources strained by influx of migrants
To help process the 15,000 Haitian migrants who passed through Del Rio, Customs and Border Protection built a 100,000 square foot tent in Laredo, Texas, about 180 miles from Del Rio. Small towns like Del Rio don’t have the resources to handle them, so they haul them to midsize areas like Laredo. Once they are processed in Laredo, they are transported by bus to even larger cities like Houston and Dallas. The city manager of Laredo says the city doesn’t have the resources – financial, medical, human – for another push, but it will do its best. The police service is also strained as it faces the consequences of illegal immigration, such as the dismantling of hideouts and human trafficking.
LAREDO, TEXAS – Some of the 15,000 Haitian migrants who arrived in Del Rio two weeks ago are still being processed in other cities in Texas.
One of those towns is Laredo, where customs and border protection have built a temporary facility to deal with the large number of illegal immigrants entering. It’s a 100,000 square foot tent meant to give CBP more space to process immigrants.
But the burden is also on local authorities and law enforcement, who say they lack resources.
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“All eyes are on the border,” said Robert Eads, city manager of Laredo.
Border towns like Laredo face the challenges of the immigration crisis on a daily basis. Hundreds of people, sometimes over a thousand, come every day.
Eads says this puts a strain on resources.
Laredo, Texas is located along the US-Mexico border. It’s about 180 miles from Del Rio.
“What we’re going to have to do is take resources from our community that we have to apply elsewhere,” Eads said. “If it’s an EMT, a fire department, a police department, traffic control – whatever it is – we’re going to have to suspend that to be able to fix this. problem.”
In August, the city of Laredo began transporting migrants by bus to larger cities like Austin, Dallas and Houston, which have greater hospital capacity. It was to the detriment of the city and the taxpayers – about $ 6,000 to $ 8,000 a day.
“Our healthcare system cannot support these volumes,” Eads said. “Even if a migrant himself, God forbid, gets sick, we are going to miss the same resource, so he may not get the services he needs.”
THE BORDER PATROL ATTACHED WITH HATIAN MIGRANTS, CANNOT FOCUS ON DRUGS, MAN TRAFFICKERS
Some of the Haitian migrants who passed through Del Rio in mid-September are still being processed at a temporary settlement in Laredo.
The soft-sided tent is about 180 miles from where the migrants first crossed the border.
Customs and border protection have opened a temporary facility in Laredo, Texas to help process migrants. It is 100,000 square feet. (Ashley Soriano / Fox News)
Del Rio, with a population of around 35,000, does not have the resources to treat so many people.
“It is important to keep in mind that this is not a detention center, nor designed for long term detention. It is not designed to detain criminal aliens and it is not a prison, ”Matthew Hudak, head of the Laredo sector border patrol, said in a statement. Release.
CBP will provide meals, hygiene and laundry services.
According to the CBP, it has 36 individual showers, a waiting area, sinks and toilets, 34 workstations and a television for entertainment.
“It’s really a temporary facility to give us the space we need to process the people we’re bringing in and then move them to the rest of the process,” said Chief Hudak.
The migrants will be transported by bus to larger cities, this time funded by the federal government.
The manager says the city’s processing capacity is 200 to 300 people per day, but the tent facility receives about 1,200 per day.
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“It’s faster to drive or bus migrants from Del Rio, Texas in three or four hours and get them to Laredo because we then process them in the time frame they need… (Del Rio) n ‘ just not (resources) “says Eads.
Migrants were also evacuated by plane from Laredo International Airport.
Additionally, following the influx of migrants to Del Rio, some border patrol checkpoints were closed so that staff could be reassigned to help process migrants.
Eads says that in his 49 years of life, he has never heard of or seen this happen.
Meanwhile, the Laredo Police Department’s biggest concern over illegal immigration is human trafficking.
“We have hiding places popping up everywhere,” said investigator Joe Baeza, of the LPD’s public information office. “In one house in particular, we had almost 100 people. Three bathrooms for 100 people. It’s going to be messy.”
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LPD has responded to 121 hiding calls so far this year.
“The department still has its hands full, but more so now with these immigration issues,” Baeza said.
The city is asking the federal government for funding to buy more buses and hire additional staff for another potential increase.
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