EL PASO, Texas — During the initial four weeks of President Donald Trump’s second term, there has been a noticeable emphasis on increased immigration enforcement and policy adjustments, aligning with his campaign promises.
In recent weeks, a series of executive orders have been swiftly implemented, one of which involved the immediate discontinuation of CBP One, an application that allowed undocumented individuals to schedule appointments at any of the eight southwest border ports of entry to enter the United States.
Effective January 20, the CBP One application was shut down, resulting in the cancellation of all existing appointments for individuals waiting on the Mexican side of the border. This action aimed to reduce the number of border crossings, particularly impacting communities along the border such as El Paso.
“El Paso has always been very resilient and been able to adapt,” said John Martin, the deputy director at the Opportunity Center for the Homeless.
It’s something Martin tells ABC13 they had to do in 2022 and 2023 when they had an influx of migrants seeking help after crossing into the United States.
The streets of El Paso today are vastly different than a year or two ago when hundreds of migrants with hope of a life in the United States made this border city their transitionary point.
“The difference today is that you’ll see the streets empty because they are not risking to be arrested at the border,” said Carlos Marentes, director of the Border Agriculture Workers Center. “A lot of the immigrants that were publicly demanding or requesting assistance to be legally in this country, they just went into the underground… to the shadows again.”
He says the flow of people coming across the Mexico side into El Paso has dramatically decreased in the last several months.
Local shelters like Annunciation House, which once housed hundreds, today only has a handful of refugees.
“I think it’s important for people to understand the decrease. We started to see the decrease in 2024,” said Ruben Garcia, the director of Annunciation House.
Martin agrees and says those numbers continue to go down daily.
“With the reduced numbers that we’re seeing at this point, many of our partners have deactivated their shelters,” said Martin.
Simultaneously, restrictions on immigration are ever changing, causing a wave of uncertainty for the hundreds of migrants they’ve already helped house and feed along the way.
In addition, although border crossings are down, we are seeing an increase in deportation flights to other countries and Guantanamo Bay.
Trump’s administration says they’re focusing on the deportation of immigrants with criminal warrants.
As ABC13 continues to talk to people in the migrant community, some people in Houston are expressing their concerns about what’s next because in their minds they believe this is only the beginning of what’s to come.
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