EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — City officials said they are turning to roving teams offering help to migrants and using hotels to house them.
City officials held a news conference Tuesday, Dec. 12 to provide an update on the migrant situation in El Paso.
The City said they have been sending roving teams throughout the day to offer shelter to the dozens of migrants gathered outside of Sacred Heart Church in South El Paso.
Just last night, roving teams were able to place nearly 200 people in hotels, city officials. This has come as a response to a spike in migrant encounters at the border since Thanksgiving.
City officials said daily migrant encounters peaked at one point to “well over” 1,000 encounters, and just over a week ago, hundreds of migrants gathered at the border by marker “Gate 36,” which is located near Midway Drive along the Border Highway.
City officials said, however, migrant encounters have decreased in the last few days.
“We’re monitoring those numbers. We’re looking at what we’re seeing. While we saw an increase last week and it was getting close to, ‘OK, well, what do we need to do next?’ That increase tapered off over the last three days,” said Deputy City Manager Mario D’ Agostino.
“So while it was well over a thousand, as the mayor talked about, since Thanksgiving, I think one or two of the days it peaked at over 1,500 apprehensions in a day. That’s tapered back down and we’re down into the 700 to 800 range a day,” he added.
Meanwhile, City officials said Morehead Middle School, the vacant school they purchased to turn into a migrant and animal shelter a couple of months ago, could reopen within 48 hours if needed, but the most effective way to house migrants is by taking them to hotels.
“We talk about housing 198 persons last night. A lot of them are family units. It’s multiple people per room. It’s a lot more feasible, a lot more economical for the City to do that. It’s a safer environment too, as we’ve talked about all along. The hotel process is just a better environment for people” said D’Agostino.
Many migrants, however, have chosen to stay out in the street instead.
A Venezuelan migrant, who did not want to be identified, said he has chosen to sleep in the street the last eight days because he has had to be out early looking for work around Sacred Heart, in order to earn money to buy transportation out of El Paso. He added that staying at a shelter costs him time, as they are located far from Downtown.
El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said migrants can’t be forced to get out of the streets, but they will continue to offer them shelter.
“They have the right to do what they feel like doing. But it’s really important to us that people don’t stay outside and they can stay out of the elements. So we’ll continue to have our roving teams offering them shelter, offering them to go in. Temperatures get to the point where we need to look at warming shelters. We need to look at that because this is a city that really cares. And we’ll make sure that we provide safety,” Leeser said.
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