EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Migrants again are riding trains to the El Paso-Juarez border by the hundreds, intent on seeking asylum in the U.S.
Images obtained by a Border Report camera crew show the arrival in Juarez, Mexico, on Wednesday afternoon of a lengthy cargo train with people packed tightly atop each boxcar.
The train was coming from Chihuahua City, where authorities recently disbanded hundreds of migrants staying in tents behind a convenience store next to train tracks. The migrants set up the camp several weeks ago because Mexican immigration officials got them off Juarez-bound trains.
One migrant told local news media he and some of his peers armed themselves with rocks to prevent agents of Mexico’s National Migration Institute from getting them off the trains, as the agents had been doing for the past several weeks.
Some migrants told Border Report they were headed straight to the Rio Grande to turn themselves in to the U.S. Border Patrol and present asylum claims. Others said they came with their families in tow so they would look for a shelter to get food and stay the night before attempting a crossing on Thursday.
“I am traveling by myself and they’re waiting for me in Florida,” said Johan, an 18-year-old Venezuelan migrant. “I left (Venezuela) on February 5 and I stayed in Mexico some time and the (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) appointment never came. […] I will go to the river and see what happens.”
Richard, another asylum-seeker from Venezuela, said he was looking forward to a respite in a Juarez shelter before attempting to cross the border.
“I feel good, I feel strong and I feel blessed by God to be so close” to the United States, he said.
A multitude of people could be seen coming out of the Juarez rail yard and walking along the streets. Few appeared to be aware or care that the state of Texas has set up razor wire along the banks of the Rio Grande and keeping hundreds of armed Texas Army National Guard troops there to discourage illegal crossings.
The Texas Department of Public Safety on at least three occasions has arrested large groups of migrants and charged them with misdemeanor state riot charges and some with felony criminal mischief charges for cutting the razor wire.
In El Paso, a law enforcement official said reports of large groups of migrants arriving in trains to Juarez began surfacing on Tuesday.
The U.S. Border Patrol earlier reminded asylum-seekers to make appointments through the CBP One app and wait to be called to a port of entry. They reminded migrants that crossing between ports of entry is unlawful and could disqualify them from future immigration benefits.
CBP operates several processing facilities for migrants, including a permanent structure that can hold more than 1,000 at a time near Hondo Pass Drive in Northeast El Paso, and a massive soft-sided or tent facility that can hold twice that many. That’s in addition to smaller facilities at the Paso del Norte Bridge and Border Patrol stations.
As of 5 p.m. on Wednesday, only few migrants could be seen at the border wall trying to turn themselves in.
On Wednesday, the City of El Paso’s online migrant dashboard report showed 3,186 already in CBP custody in the El Paso Sector that includes Hudspeth and El Paso counties in Texas, and the entire state of New Mexico.