On Sunday evening, December 23 – the day before Christmas – more than 200 migrants without documents were delivered to immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) to the bus station in El Paso (TX).
According to the representative of the local police Department Robert Gomez, many families had no money, no food;and most of them didn’t know English.
Law enforcement first received a message that a crowd of people without tickets trying to get on the bus around 8 PM. As noted, Gomaa, waiting room at the bus station is small, so many migrants, among whom were children, had to stand outside in the cold.
«We were not going to send 200 people to the streets of El Paso on a cold night. We wouldn’t do that,» said Gomez, adding that as a result they found housing for migrants, including in the hotel and in the nearby Catholic school.
Congressman El Paso Beto O’rourke wrote on Twitter that on Christmas eve will be deported more migrants.
Our thanks to everyone in the community who has come out on Christmas Eve to help migrant families. If you’re not in El Paso and want to help, make a donation at https://t.co/062olx7YIp pic.twitter.com/Lm6oEigME2
— Beto O’rourke (@BetoORourke) December 25, 2018
«We’re trying to make ICE next time notified the community if they know that existing shelters for migrants will not be to the community has 24 hours to find a hotel room, bed, alternative shelters, food, volunteers – all these people need,» said O’rourke.
It is noted that, most likely, eviction without notice is due to the government shutdown.
In turn ICE in a statement to CNN said that after decades of inaction by Congress, the government is limited in what it can do for removing families in the United States illegally.
