Ciudad Juárez, México (EFE).- By Martin Coronado
US workers are beginning to reinforce the border wall in Mexico’s Ciudad Juárez, Wednesday, where migrants who have arrived in the last wave say they are discouraged and fearful of the measure.
In the city bordering El Paso, Texas, the work announced last week by Joe Biden’s administration to further raise the structure built by the government of Donald Trump, something that the current US president had rejected, has begun.
EFE images documented the works to reinforce the wall near the center of Ciudad Juárez, with new sections of the barrier where there were none before and where a migrant camp was set up months ago.
Human rights advocates acknowledged that the migration crisis has grown so much that the US will continue to do everything to protect itself, while migrants seeking to cross the border expressed their discouragement and resignation to wait for an appointment with US authorities through the “CBP One” application.
“Extending the wall will continue over time because migration continues to increase. You see on the news people are coming from Central America, there is a large caravan approaching this border, reinforcing the wall is something that sooner or later was going to happen,” said Pastor Juan Fierro.
The director of the shelter, “El Buen Samaritano,” believes that the migrant influx has been growing, and this could turn into an aggressive situation at the border.
“Somehow, they have to protect the interests of the country and the citizens of the US. This situation is increasing, and every day we see a wave of migrants coming north to cross,” said the activist.
Between migration and politics
Mexico and Central America are facing an “unprecedented” migration flow to North America, according to the International Organization for Migration, with up to 10,000 migrants arriving daily at the border with the United States, according to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Mexico’s disagreement with the new border wall works, which Biden argues he must execute because Congress had already approved that budget, was a central theme of last week’s High-Level Security Dialogue between the two nations in the Mexican capital.
“The 36 kilometers are not going to be built, and the US does not want to do it. That is what they expressed to us: they want to comply with the law but disagree with the construction of walls. That does not solve anything. More than anything else, it is a measure for publicity,” said López Obrador in his press conference last Friday.
But Pastor Fierro and the migrants see another reality at the border.
In the face of the works and anti-immigrant measures, Venezuelan Marlon Brandek has decided to wait in Ciudad Juárez instead of trying to enter the United States irregularly.
“You have to try to abide by things. My idea is to cross, and I’m going to wait for the ‘CBP One’ appointment, and you have to abide by the rules, and if there are laws, you have to comply with them,” the migrant told EFE.
“I don’t know in what way the reinforcement of the wall will have an impact if it will reduce in one way or another the migration there now. I think it is because of the disorder there has been, according to what I have seen in some news,” he added. EFE
