A new migrant caravan of 2,000 people is heading north toward the U.S. border and is expected to arrive in El Paso, Texas, within days.
videos posted online Crowds of people are shown walking through a street in southern Mexico on Monday.
in one clipA person believed to be the group’s leader was seen encouraging the group to chant “A la Frontera,” meaning “To the Border,” through a bullhorn.
The group then declared in Spanish: “We are not criminals, we are international workers.”
Church-run border shelters are currently preparing for the arrival of the group, as they lack space to house the thousands of migrants attempting to enter the United States. According to the border report.
“We are in contact with people and staff at migrant shelters in southern Mexico,” the Rev. Francisco Bueno Guillén, director of the Casa del Migrante shelter in the Mexican border city of Juárez, told the news station.
“They have seen a lot of people coming into this country recently and joining those who are already here,” he said. “Yes, they are coming to Juarez.”
He said he expected at least 2,000 migrants who departed from the Mexican state of Chiapas to arrive in El Paso within the next few days.
The so-called “Via Crucis of Migrants” was organized by Mexican activists in Chiapas to ensure the safety of migrants heading to the United States.
The plane departed from the city of Tapachula on the Guatemalan border on Monday, Border Report said.
Another group of several hundred foreigners also reportedly set up camp behind a convenience store in the city of Chihuahua, just about 330 miles from El Paso.
But Guillén said the Casa del Migrante shelter is already full.
He said it was at 75% capacity as of Monday, up from just 20% capacity a few weeks ago.
Kiki Romero Municipal Gym was three-quarters full as of Wednesday, according to Santiago Gonzalez, director of the Juarez Human Rights Office. He told Mexican publication El Diario.
Bishop Mark J. Seitz of the Catholic Diocese of El Paso told bishops south of the border that they are “coordinating all available resources and continuing to be aware of developments.”
“El Paso is extremely prepared in the event of an outbreak and is able to provide a safe and orderly path for those who are allowed to enter the country to find safe conditions and continue their journey,” he said. “We have shown that,” he said. border report.
Meanwhile, the Texas National Guard deployed two planes carrying 200 Tactical Border Force members to El Paso. According to KTSM.
A Texas National Guard spokesperson told the agency that the group specializes in civil disobedience issues.
Their deployment comes days after a group of migrants stormed the border in El Paso, tearing down concertina wire and trampling Border Patrol agents standing in their way.
Texas authorities last Thursday charged nine immigrants involved in the break-in.
Charges against the migrants include inciting a riot, damaging property worth more than $2,500 and assaulting a Guard member, state officials told The Post.
Texas authorities are expected to charge dozens of other people with felonies or misdemeanors, the person said.
Federal authorities must extradite the suspect to the state, officials said.
