EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – The City of El Paso will go through with the planned closing of its migrant shelter on Friday, as migrant encounters have plummeted recently. City officials said the encounters have fallen below 400 a day and nonprofit shelters have space to accommodate them.
Mayor Oscar Leeser said the Community Readiness Center at the former Morehead Middle School could be reopened with 48 hours’ notice and reassured residents no migrants would be left out on the streets.
“The numbers don’t justify having a facility the size of Morehead. We know we can turn the light off, save money and be efficient,” Leeser said on Thursday. “We want to make sure people understand that by closing Morehead we are not going to leave people out in inclement weather like we have today.”
El Paso International Airport on Thursday afternoon recorded wind gusts of 61 miles per hour while wind speed in the Franklin Mountains peaked at 71, according to KTSM.
Leeser said the city’s “roving teams” would continue monitoring streets, so people aren’t exposed to the elements and have a shelter. The city also will continue to place migrant families in hotels as needed.
“Our number one goal is to make sure we have no street releases and we’re not leaving people out overnight. We will utilize hotel rooms, if necessary,” added Assistant City Manager Mario D’Agostino.
City officials said almost all migrants coming across the border from Mexico are headed to places other than El Paso and they typically stay in the city for fewer than three days. They say they’re working with the State of Texas to provide busing to their preferred destinations and with Mexican officials to get a “heads up” about groups of migrants headed to this region.
Leeser said the city received an extension from the federal government so that $30 million in emergency management funding did not expire at the start of the year.
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