McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — Migrants living outdoors in makeshift tents along the border in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas are dealing with muddy and wet conditions as heavy rains hit the region and more is on the way.
Over 1.25 inches of rain has fallen since Thursday in Reynosa, Mexico, and over a quarter inch of rain has hit Matamoros, Mexico, NBC 23 Valley Storm Team Meteorologist Jessica Kirk told Border Report.
Heavy bands of rain continued throughout Friday and Kirk says the region could receive an additional 2 inches of rain through Saturday.
This has caused thousands to be without power north of the border in the Rio Grande Valley, and muddy conditions south of the border.
Pastor Abraham Barberi, who runs a church in Matamoros, on Friday said the hundreds of migrants living in an outdoor camp across the Rio Grande live under plastic tarps and most are drenched and living in mud.
“It is pretty muddy over there right now,” Barberi told Border Report. “They’re kind of used to it and they have to deal with it.”
His church also operates the Dulce Refugio Shelter to help asylum-seekers in Matamoros.
Plastic tarps used as tents at a migrant camp in Matamoros, Mexico, can be seen from Brownsville, Texas, on Dec. 21, 2023, on the other side of heavy concertina wire. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report File Photo)
Barberi says the migrants don’t have formal tent structures because they’re expensive and most are waiting and hoping to only be living there for short periods as they wait to get an asylum interview at a port of entry via the CBP One app from U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials.
“Obviously their stuff gets wet because most of their tents are man-made. They make them. It’s not like a tent that you buy at Academy (Sports). So that doesn’t help,” he said.
“They make their own tents from whatever they have,” he said.
When asked what the migrants might need, he responded: “Obviously, a nice tent.”
Nonprofits and non-governmental organizations, like Team Brownsville and Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, regularly cross the border and pass out supplies and hygiene items, but tents cost a lot and each tent can only house one family.
Currently, about 1,000 migrants are living in tents at a Mexican federally-run former hospital facility that has been converted into a shelter for asylum seekers in Matamoris.
The shelter at the old hospital facility opened in August and is about a 15-minute drive south of the border and many migrants don’t want to leave the river and go inland as they wait for their interviews.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
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