Mexican officials said Monday a handful of towns along its border with the United States will receive migrants deported from the U.S.
The Associated Press reports that cities could start receiving deported migrants this week. It’s part of an agreement between Washington and Mexico City that halted tariffs on Mexico, which has also positioned thousands of troops along its southern border with Central America to help curb mass migration.
Nuevo Laredo, which is located just across the border from Laredo, Texas, is one of those cities, Nuevo Laredo Mayor Enrique Rivas confirmed in a story by the Laredo Times.
“It is a humanitarian issue that we will be attending to within the measure of our capacities,” Rivas said. “The federal government must take responsibility for being the ones who took this decision (to accept the program’s expansion). We will continue knocking on doors to find resources. The municipal government is overwhelmed.”
Rivas said his city’s shelters are already inundated with about 3,000 migrants, and that if the city were to accept more, then it will have to open other facilities to accommodate the returnees.
The initial program plan indicated there would be just three centers along the border that would receive migrants, two along the California-Mexico border and the other in Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso. But with an increasing amount of migrants expected to be sent back, Tamaulipas — one of the more dangerous Mexican states where Nuevo Laredo is located — is set to house immigrants.
The U.S. State Department warns Americans from traveling to Tamaulipas and bars most American government employees from going there as well.
“Violent crime, such as murder, armed robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, extortion, and sexual assault, is common,” the travel warning states. “Gang activity, including gun battles and blockades, is widespread. Armed criminal groups target public and private passenger buses as well as private automobiles traveling through Tamaulipas, often taking passengers hostage and demanding ransom payments. Federal and state security forces have limited capability to respond to violence in many parts of the state.”
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Nuevo Laredo Deputy Mayor Raul Cardenas Thomae said his city would likely receive returnees from a 260-mile stretch of border from Roma, Texas, to Ciudad Acuna, which is located in the Mexican state of Coahuila.
The Associated Press reports that since the migrant transfer began in January, more than 14,000 have been transferred from the United States. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has not provided the policy’s expansion details.
*see full story by NEWSWEEK