EL PASO, Texas — Despite a marked slowdown in migrant crossings into Texas in recent months, migrants released by the Biden administration can still be found sleeping and congregating in the heart of downtown El Paso.
The migrants say they stay in a downtown church shelter during the night and roam the downtown commercial area during the day. Many migrants panhandle or look for odd jobs to earn money, while others loiter in alleyways and street corners as local shoppers walk past.
Breitbart Texas spoke to Julieta, a migrant from Nicaragua, and her family. Julieta says she and her family have been on the downtown streets for eighteen days since entering the United States illegally. Julieta was accompanied by her father, mother, and three small children. As the children played, her father sat in the shade and spoke about eventually reaching Houston.
Migrant Julieta and her family. (Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas)
“I’ll work when I get there if I can find a job,” Julieta’s father says. Julieta says they have some relatives and friends in the Houston area they hope to contact. Julieta told Breitbart Texas her son was ill while in Border Patrol custody. She says he was diagnosed with Varicella (chickenpox), but God cured him before the family was released onto the streets of El Paso nearly three weeks ago.
While Julieta and her family described the long and arduous trip from Nicaragua, her small children moved up and down the sidewalk, playing with a plastic school bus. Like many other migrants roaming around the downtown area, the family appears to be stuck in limbo. Without funds to leave the border city, many of the migrants told Breitbart Texas they would wait to see what happened. Julietta says the shelter has thus far not offered to fund the family’s trip to Houston.
Julieta and two of her children on streets of El Paso (Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas)
More than fifty migrants could be seen in the downtown area near the church on Friday—a drastic reduction from one year ago when hundreds camped out there after being released to pursue asylum. Breitbart Texas visited the area exactly one year ago and noted significantly more migrants surviving on the streets living in cardboard and tarp shelters. A crackdown by the Mexican government has reduced the number of migrants reaching the border since January.
The Biden administration and Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador reached an agreement to reduce irregular migration in late December. Although few details of the agreement have been released, it is evident Mexico’s National Institute of Migration and the country’s National Guard have reduced the number of migrants using public transportation and the famous “Bestia” train line to reach northern Mexico.
Migrants released by the Biden administration on the streets of El Paso. (Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas)
According to a source within Customs and Border Protection, migrant crossings into the El Paso Border Patrol Sector were down nearly 30 percent during the month of April. The source, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said 30,400 migrants were apprehended by the Border Patrol within the sector in April 2024 compared to nearly 43,000 in April 2023.
According to the source, the drop in crossings is more significant this fiscal year than last fiscal year. Since October, 181,000 migrants have crossed into the El Paso Sector compared to 308,200 during the same time frame last year, a reduction of 41 percent.
Despite the slowing in migrant crossings, the situation still presents challenges for the Border Patrol in the region. “We are arresting nearly 900 crossing into the sector each day, that may be less than the 1200 we saw last year, but it is still a crisis,” the source emphasized.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.