EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – An iconic migrant shelter in Juarez, Mexico, has shut down, even as experts warn of a possible year-end surge along the Southwest border.
The last seven migrants exited the Kiki Romero Gym in Central Juarez this weekend and were placed at a smaller facility near the Rio Grande, city officials told Border Report.
The gym hosted more than 30,000 displaced families and individuals from all over the globe during its five-year run 2019 to 2024.
It was one of the largest shelters in Juarez, able to accommodate up to 140 people at any one time in bunkbeds placed on a former basketball court. The migrants received meals, donated clothes, had access to showers and were offered discounted bus tickets if they decided to return to their home countries.
The facility is being re-converted into a badly needed sports venue for young people in the Aztecas neighborhood of Juarez – where city officials want to counter the growing consumption of methamphetamine.
Crews were seen on Tuesday cleaning the floorboards and backyard behind the chain-link fence. The remodeled sporting facility will open in January, city officials said.
Other migrant shelters in Juarez report low to moderate occupancy since the Mexican government cracked down on caravans and train riders in May and the U.S. government stopped taking most asylum petitions between ports of entry in June.
Some officials on both sides of the border earlier expressed concerns about a year-end rush by migrants wanting to get into the United States ahead of President Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. Trump has vowed mass deportations and to further crack down on illegal entries.
However, the head of one such shelter, Good Samaritan, recently told local news media no new migrants have come for almost three weeks.
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