Choice To Halt Deportations To Juarez Questioned By Migrant Advocates

In early March, the U.S. Government stopped deporting large numbers of deportees into Ciudad Juarez due to the ongoing drug cartel violence in the city.

But Ciuadad Juarez Migrant Shelter director, Dominican Brother Gerardo Arias, and others working with migrants say that even with the rampant violence, discharging deportees into Ciudad Juarez is not an entirely foolish proposition — especially since other ports of entry to the southeast such as Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa and Matamoros can be more dangerous for migrants, according to a report by the Catholic News Service.

“In many ways, Juarez is a safe city for migrants,” said Brother Arias, director of the Ciudad Juarez Migrant Shelter. In his city, he added, criminal gangs are not kidnapping and extorting migrants.

The Ciudad Juarez Migrant Shelter used to fill beyond capacity on the days that U.S. officials would send deportees back across the Rio Grande.

The March decision to stop discharging so many deportees into Ciudad Juarez was meant to spare migrants any exposure to the ongoing violence, but it came after intense lobbying from the municipal government and Mexican officials.

Read the full Catholic News Service article here.