Local leaders prepare for an influx in migrants as Title 42 is set to come to an end in less than a week
El Paso, Texas -- Title 42 is expected to end May 23rd and with that, city and county leaders are preparing for a potential influx in migrants and the impact that could have on the community.
"As we are now, our local NGOs are having some difficulty with volunteers and capacity space, so that's a concern," Jorge Rodriguez, the El Paso emergency management coordinator, said.
County Judge Ricardo Samaniego told ABC-7 that due to the lack of volunteers, he's concerned that they won't be able to process migrants into shelters or onto buses and planes quickly enough.
"Border patrol has to release them, and then you have that difficult situation," Samaniego said.
El Pasoans saw that difficult situation firsthand when back during the migrant surge of 2019, thousands of migrants were stranded under the Paso Del Norte Bridge waiting.
"The biggest challenge we have is for the first time, if we don't do this properly, then we are going to have that backlash of having them in the community and not able to facilitate any of the shelters," Samaniego said.
Both Samaniego and Rodriguez told ABC-7 that this is a federal situation, and they hope the federal government will step in and use military-style type installations to house and process migrants. As of May 17 the federal government has not agreed to this, but in the past, we have seen Fort Bliss and Holloman Airforce base use their facilities to house unaccompanied migrants and Afghan refugees.
