▲ Central American migrants wait near the Limousine Express bus terminal for a religious organization to provide them with food and support, after having crossed from Ciudad Juárez to El Paso, Texas.Photo Marco Peláez
Nestor Jimenez
La Jornada Newspaper
Monday, January 20, 2025, p. 4
In the shelters of the Scalabrini Migrant Houses Network, which have a presence in five entities in the country, the fear of collapse
and it is even warned that the return of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States could cause a humanitarian crisis.
As they have done since their foundation, explains priest Julio López, director of these centers in Mexico, they will provide care not only to foreigners who transit in search of reaching the United States, but also to repatriated Mexicans who request it, although he warns that a wave of deportations, like those that Trump has threatened for the start of his second term in the White House, would exceed its capabilities, as well as those of other similar shelters.
In the end, the shelters will take care of what they can, a humanitarian crisis of greater magnitude would occur because there will be a large population living on the street or being victims of organized crime gangs.
indicated the also representative of the Clamor Network on the citizen council of the National Migration Institute.
From the north and from the south
If people continue to arrive from both sides, from the south and the north, the spaces will always be less for both.
he stressed.
López declares that he is not certain that there is a clear strategy from the Mexican government to confront the actions that Trump has threatened. Until this weekend, no federal authority had contacted them to plan coordinated action, and only some of the local commanders have established communication with that objective.
This group has shelters in Tijuana, Nuevo Laredo, Ecatepec, Iztapalapa and Zapopan, where the strategy will be to offer care to the extent their capabilities allow.
The shelters continue to provide care to the extent possible and the plan is to continue with assistance; however, the physical capacity of the shelters will remain the same. And although in some locations the number of people that can be supported could be increased a little, there is always the problem of the economic capacity to sustain the expense involved.
Constantly, if 10 people leave, 10 more arrive that same day, he noted, but since December there was a change in the time they stayed, since due to the urgency of arriving, they stayed less time than usual. The centers of this network have spaces to accommodate from 20 people, the smallest ones, and up to 200, the largest ones.
