Shapleigh Estimates 10,000 Have Fled Juarez For El Paso

by ABC-7 Reporter/Anchor Celina Avila

EL PASO, Texas — Everyone is trying to get a handle on just how many people have fled the bloodbath in Juarez for the safety of El Paso.

On Wednesday, State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh told fellow members of the state legislature that 10,000 people from Juarez are now on this side of the border, according to our news partners at Newspaper Tree.

According to the report, Shapleigh said the situation is “serious” and required an “appropriate and measured response.” He made the remarks during a meeting of the Committee of Transportation and Homeland Security.

El Paso Mayor John Cook said the following in response: “I’m not really sure where the Senator got his information. When we’ve heard these rumors before that there’s been mass exoduses of people fleeing the drug wars in Juarez, we try to find out if there’s any truth to that and I haven’t been able to confirm it.”

A spokesman for Shapleigh said the Senator collected them “anecdotally” from people he knows in the real estate and business communities and admitted they are not an official tally.

Mayor Cook said it has proven extremely difficult to quantify the impact of the violence in Mexico on this side of the border.