MCALLEN, Texas – A growing number of asylum seekers from Central America cross the border between Texas and Mexico, invade refugee centers and fill federal processing facilities.

The number of family units – usually mothers or fathers with young children – apprehended in the area of ​​the Rio Grande Valley in the United States Customs and Border Protection Department has grown from 49,896 for fiscal 2017 to 63,278 for fiscal year 2018, ended September 30th. increase, according to statistics from recently published agencies.

These figures correspond to an overall increase in fears of family units at the South-West Frontier, which increased from 41,435 in fiscal 2017 to 50,036 during the past fiscal year, an increase of 21%. The area of ​​the Rio Grande Valley, which spans 320 kilometers at the border and connects Rio Grande City to Brownsville and along the coast to Corpus Christi, was by far the largest contributor to this total.

The wave of migrants – mainly from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – arrives in large groups, sometimes 70 or 100 at a time, and blocks the federal facilities where they are held while their asylum applications are processed.

"These figures are not sustainable," said sector chief Manuel Padilla at the beginning of July.

The influx of immigrant families comes at a time when the border and immigration play a central role in the political drama that will lead to the mid-term elections next week.

President Donald Trump recently protested repeatedly against a so-called "caravan" of about 4,000 Central American migrants heading for the US-Mexico border in search of an asylum from poverty and poverty. violence in their country. He alleged, without providing evidence, that criminal elements and "unknowns from the Middle East" could be infiltrated into this group.

On Wednesday, Trump said he was ready to deploy up to 15,000 troops, about the number of US forces fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, on the southern border of the United States in anticipation of the arrival of the caravan.

Rochelle Garza, an immigration lawyer in Brownsville who represents migrants, said the debate and increased surveillance at the border made it more difficult for residents to cross either side of the border, disrupting communities that had lived in harmony ever since. generations.

"It's not political fodder, it's real life," Garza said. "It's frustrating, all these people in [Washington] take those decisions that concern us. Our community is torn apart. "

Many on the border around McAllen scoffed at the idea of ​​sending thousands of US soldiers to meet a caravan of refugees who are tired of traveling and want to change their lives immediately. in authorities as soon as they reach the American soil.

Jennifer Harbury, a civil rights lawyer working with migrants, said the majority of Central American asylum seekers were going to US border police to begin their asylum procedure.

"Why on earth would they do that?" she said of the probability that criminals use migrants to enter the United States. "It's the same as making oneself."

Asked about the need for troops to fight refugees, she added: "These are fairy tale stories."

In Reynosa, just above the Rio Grande from McAllen, Hector Silva runs the Senda Migrant Refuge in Vida. He said he felt the recent increase in the number of migrants, mainly women and children. Some are asylum seekers who have been deported from the United States and are trying to return, others have made their first long trip from Central America, he said.

Many try to enter through the official entry points on international bridges, but US and Mexican immigration officials hijack them. They go back to the shelter several days or weeks later, said Silva.

"They find different ways to cross," he said. "If they can not cross the bridge, they will find other ways. We saw a lot of people desperate. "

Trump and other government officials said that asylum seekers should report legally to official checkpoints rather than illegally crossing the Rio Grande. But in places like Reynosa, this has become an almost impossible feat, said Harbury, the civil rights lawyer.

Refugees seeking asylum, even if they have an official transit visa to travel to Mexico, are regularly turned back at entry points, she said. US Customs and Border Protection officers arrest asylum seekers a few hundred meters from the US treatment zone and hand them over to Mexican immigration agents, who force them to return home. Mexico or threaten to leave the bridge, said Harbury.

This forces refugees to take risks by paying criminal gangs to cross the river in the United States, she said. On Tuesday, two Customs and Border Protection officers checked identity cards at a checkpoint on the Mexican side of the McAllen / Hidalgo International Bridge, about 200 meters from the US entry point.

"Basically, no one can talk about Reynosa, whether he has a paper or not," said Harbury. "It's crazy."

In a statement, a US Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman said CBP officers routinely check identity documents to ensure that asylum seekers have "valid entry documents" and to manage the space if the port processing areas reach their maximum capacity.

"CBP treats undocumented people as quickly as possible without denying the overall mission of the agency or compromising the security of those in our custody," the statement said.

Nevertheless, the tighter US policies and the specter of giving their lives to criminal gangs do not slow down the flow of refugees. The Catholic Charities Humanitarian Relief Center in McAllen offers asylum seekers a place to take a shower, have a hot meal and meet family members in the United States after treatment and release by CBP.

Usually, the center receives between 80 and 120 refugees a day. Last week, it gathered an average of 500 refugees a day, forcing the organizers to transport them by bus to a Catholic basilica near San Juan, Texas.

Dilmer Godoy, 27, said he spent last month traveling to the United States from his hometown of Olancho region in Honduras, with his 3-year-old son, Arlin. The two men took the train and slept in fields to reach the US-Mexican border at Reynosa. He fled Honduras because he could not pay a criminal gang that threatened him and his family, he said.

Godoy said he initially wanted to enter the United States through an entry point. But when two of his friends showed up on the bridge and were deported to Honduras, he instead paid a group of $ 500 to be hauled himself and Arlin across the Rio Grande.

It is wrong to think that caravans and other migrant groups are bringing criminal elements into the United States, while refugees like him are fleeing violence, do not matter, said Godoy.

"We come here because we know the laws here. We know that if you commit a crime, you go to prison, "he said. "We come here for safety."

Follow Jervis on Twitter: @MrRJervis.

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