They report chaos for the return of Venezuelans to Mexico

The United States is expelling Venezuelans to Tijuana and four other Mexican border cities since Wednesday, said Jeremy MacGillivray, deputy director of the United Nations International Organization for Migration in Mexico. The others are Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Piedras Negras, and Matamoros.

The Casa del Migrante in Matamoros admitted at least 120 Venezuelans from Brownsville on Thursday, said the Rev. Francisco Gallardo, director of the shelter.

On Friday, the Mexican government offered free bus rides to Mexico City.

Venezuelans have become the second largest nationality on the border with the United States after Mexicans, a difficult challenge for President Biden. In August, nearly four out of five detained by US authorities entered in or near Eagle Pass, Texas, across from Piedras Negras, a Mexican city of about 150,000 with scant space for shelters.

“We are on the brink of collapse,” said Edgar Rodríguez Izquierdo, a lawyer for the Casa del Migrante in Piedras Negras, which feeds 500 people daily and is converting a school into a shelter for 150 people.

The US changes admission policy for Venezuelans on the border with Mexico

Tijuana, where Garcia Lara runs the Juventud 2000 shelter, is the largest city on the Mexican border, probably having the most space. The city says 26 shelters, which are operating near or at capacity, can accommodate about 4,500 migrants combined.

Tijuana’s largest shelter, Embajadores de Jesús, houses 1,400 migrants in bunk beds, while a group affiliated with the University of California, San Diego is building a towering annex for thousands more.

Mexico’s foreign ministry said it would temporarily admit “some” Venezuelans who are expelled from the United States under a public health order known as Title 42, without indicating a numerical limit.

A Mexican official said Mexico’s ability to take in Venezuelans depends on shelter space and the success of the US offer of temporary stays for up to 24,000 Venezuelans.

So far, Mexico has only accepted returns from Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador, in addition to Mexico. As a result, Mexican shelters have been filled with migrants from those countries, along with Haitians.

Strained diplomatic relations have made it nearly impossible for the Biden administration to return them to Venezuela. Blas Núñez-Neto, a senior official with the US Department of Homeland Security, did not respond directly when asked by reporters how many Venezuelans could be deported to Mexico. He just said that he hopes fewer will try to cross the border.

Associated Press/OnCuba.