Around ten shelters are being built in northern Mexico on the border with the United States to anticipate the expulsion of Mexicans announced by the new American president Donald Trump.
Khaki-colored tents were set up this Thursday by the Mexican Navy in Matamoros (north-east), on the border with Texas, noted an AFP correspondent. These facilities could accommodate between 2,500 and 3,000 people, according to the town hall.
Other reception centers are being established at other points on the border of more than 3,100 km between the two countries, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said during her daily press briefing.
They are being built in other border states (Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila and New Leon) as part of the “Mexico te abraza” (“Mexico welcomes you with open arms”) program announced by President Sheinbaum in the face of Trump’s threats.
Illegal border crossings had declined thanks to the US authorities’ CPB One app, which allowed asylum seekers to make an appointment with US Customs and Border Services to legally enter the United States.
-The application stopped working on Monday upon the inauguration of Donald Trump, who describes migrants as “criminals” and has already announced the deployment of 1,500 additional soldiers along the border.
According to estimates, six million Mexicans live undocumented in the United States, in addition to the twelve million legally settled (according to figures from the BBVA bank), dual nationals and Americans of Mexican origin.
For non-Mexican foreigners who can no longer enter the United States, the Mexican president has considered “humanitarian assistance” and repatriations.
