Released Migrants Camp on El Paso Streets in Freezing Conditions

El Paso Sector Border Patrol officials released more than 10,000 migrants in El Paso during the past week. Now, as temperatures fall below freezing, thousands are forced to camp on streets after shelters closed their doors due to overcrowding.

Data obtained from the City of El Paso’s Migrant Crisis Dashboard states that Border Patrol officials released a record-setting 10,349 from their custody during the past week. During the past four weeks, officials released 30,782 migrants.

Overcrowded shelters forced thousands of these migrants released by the Biden Administration to camp out on the streets of El Paso in freezing conditions. The events and weather forced Mayor Oscar Leeser to declare a state of disaster on Saturday, Breitbart Texas reported.

Blocks from the Mexican border, a group of 80 migrants huddled together and ate tacos served up by local volunteers, the Associated Press reported. This is just one of the many makeshift encampments on El Paso streets.

Photos published by El Paso Matters show migrants using cardboard boxes to shield themselves from the freezing temperatures expected to last throughout the week.

One of the migrants told the local news outlet, “It’s the most important layer because the sidewalks are cold and this cardboard helps form a barrier.”

Other migrants sought shelter under a fire station door’s overhang. “At least here we have a roof,” a migrant told the reporter.

Others gathered near the Greyhound bus station and huddled against chain link fences and watched as buses dropped of even more migrants.

El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego told the Associated Press that the area is preparing for a swell of new migrant arrivals. He anticipated that the daily migrant numbers could double following the end of Title 42 on Wednesday.

Monday morning, temperatures fell to 29 degrees before slowing warming. With the exception of Thursday morning, freezing temperatures are expected every morning this week. The temperatures bottom out on Christmas Eve morning when the mercury will dip to 21 degrees.

As the sun came up Sunday morning, a migrant woman in tears folded her Red Cross-provided blanket and said, “We survived the cold night and for that we are grateful.” She gathered her belongings and moved to an abandoned building under construction across the street, El Paso Matters reported.