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
https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/local/2019/04/12/central-america-migrants-arrive-las-cruces-gospel-rescue-mission/3447694002/
LAS CRUCES - The border crisis expanded 36 miles north on Friday [4/12/19] when the Border Patrol for the first time dropped off migrants at a homeless shelter here.
Local emergency officials said that the Border Patrol is likely to drop off more migrants in coming days and weeks.
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 at the Gospel Rescue Mission on Amador Avenue. More were expected to arrive throughout the day. As many as 150 were expected.
More than 1,000 migrants have now been dropped off in Las Cruces
From Staff Reports
Las Cruces Sun-News
Published 3:58 p.m. MT April 18, 2019
https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/local/2019/04/18/more-than-1-000-migrants-have-now-been-dropped-off-las-cruces/3513372002/
LAS CRUCES - Border Patrol has released more than 1,000 migrants in Las Cruces in the past seven days. […]
In response, the city established a network of temporary shelters to house migrants while the asylum-seekers — men, women and children — look to travel elsewhere in the United States.[…]
[Las Cruces Mayor Ken] Miyagishima was in talks with his counterparts in Santa Fe and Albuquerque on Thursday and Friday about assisting migrants on a rotating basis among the three cities to give volunteers and aid facilities a chance to rest. […]
[Miyagishima said] that volunteers and employees helping manage the migrant drop-offs in Las Cruces are "tired" and "overworked."
"“It’s nonstop. They’re bringing them at all hours of the night, he said.
"We could easily handle 200, but not 200 a day, and that's why I'm thinking if Santa Fe can do 150 to 200 every three days, I think it's more manageable,” Miyagishima said. “Right now, we just can’t handle it."