Border Patrol drops off migrants in Las Cruces for first time
Updated: Border Patrol drops off migrants in Las Cruces for first time
Blake Gumprecht, Las Cruces Sun-News
Published 11:05 a.m. MT April 12, 2019 | Updated 12:47 p.m. MT April 12, 2019
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Border Patrol agent helps migrants out of a van at the Gospel Rescue Mission in Las Cruces on Friday morning, April 12, 2019. (Photo: Blake Gumprecht/Sun-News)
This story will be updated throughout the day.
LAS CRUCES - The border crisis expanded 36 miles north on Friday when the Border Patrol for the first time dropped off migrants at a homeless shelter here.
While churches in Las Cruces and Doña Ana County have been providing temporary shelter for migrants released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention for months, until now those migrants were distributed in an orderly fashion by ICE to a network of shelters in El Paso and New Mexico.
But on Friday morning, seven Border Patrol vans dropped off about 70 mostly Central American migrants that the Gospel Rescue Mission on Amador Avenue.
More were expected to arrive throughout the day. As many as 150 were expected.
The Border Patrol issued a press release on Friday saying that it would release "processed illegal aliens" in El Paso and southern New Mexico because of "capacity issues" at Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers.
First arrivals
The first five Border Patrol vans arrived at the Gospel Rescue Mission at 9:54 a.m. on Friday. They were driven to the rear of the property, where the migrants were unloaded one van at a time. A table was set up to provide them drinks from a cooler and bagged meals. Two more vans arrived at 10:36 a.m.
Migrants then sat on folding chairs on a lawn in front of a mobile home. At that point, Border Patrol officials and a representative of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office required media to leave the area and stand in front of the facility, where the migrants were no longer visible.
Steve Davis, shelter director for the Gospel Rescue Mission, said the facility is prepared to handle a continual flow of migrants and expects the Border Patrol to drop off more migrants there in coming days and weeks.
"This would be ongoing," he said. "This is going to happen over and over and over again. That is my impression."
Davis said that the migrants will be housed apart from shelter’s regular population in the facility’s cafeteria.
About 100 non-migrants stayed at the shelter on Thursday night. He said that the Border Patrol had dropped off 58 folding cots and blankets for the migrants on Wednesday.
'Our responsibility to take care of folks'
Gospel Rescue Mission brought in six portable toilets to help with the added population. It had prepared 150 meals for the migrants before they arrived. It was considering bringing in large tents to provide the migrants shade in the grass area behind the facility.
Migrants are expected to stay for one to two days, until their travel to stay with sponsors elsewhere in the country can be arranged.
"We just feel it’s our responsibility to take care of folks," Davis said. "That’s what we believe God called us to do.
If we find folks in need, regardless of who they are and where they’re from, we're going to do our best to take care of them.”
Las Cruces City Manager Stuart Ed said that Police Chief Patrick Gallagher received a call about 2 p.m. on Thursday from Customs and Border Enforcement officials warning him about the release in Las Cruces. Twice before the city had been warned about possible releases, but they did not occur.
But in response to that possibility, the city formulated a “immigrant response action plan,” so was prepared for Friday's release. It held multiple meetings with city, county, and state officials, along with representative of local non-profits and migrant shelters.
The city arranged to have migrants housed temporarily at six local non-profit facilities, such as the Gospel Rescue Mission and Mesilla Valley Community of Home, and in city buildings, such as Munson Senior Center and the Benavidez Community Center.
"I think as a community we’re more prepared than most," Ed said.
Initially, the city had said 97 immigrants were expected Friday in Las Cruces.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/04/kansas-v-garcia-supreme-court-undocumented-immigrant-id-theft.html
