Mexican authorities have begun building shelters in Ciudad Juarez to prepare for a possible influx of Mexicans deported from the United States following Donald Trump’s promises on the issue.
The temporary shelters will have the capacity to house thousands of people and should be ready in a matter of days, said city official Enrique Licon.
“It’s unprecedented,” Licon said, as workers unloaded long metal frames from tractor trailers parked on a large empty lot meters from the Rio Grande, which separates the Mexican city and El Paso, Texas.
The tents in Ciudad Juarez are part of the Mexican government’s plan to prepare shelters and reception centers in nine cities in the north of the country.
Authorities will provide food, temporary housing, medical care and assistance in obtaining identity documents, according to a government document outlining the strategy, called “Mexico Embraces You.”
The government is also planning to have a fleet of buses to transport Mexicans from reception centers to their hometowns.
Trump promises greater US deportation
Trump has promised to carry out the largest deportation effort in US history, which would expel millions of immigrants. An operation of this scale, however, would likely take years and be extremely expensive.
About five million Mexicans are living in the United States without authorization, according to an analysis by Mexican think tank El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (Colef), based on recent U.S. census data.
Many are from regions of central and southern Mexico, plagued by violence and poverty.
About 800,000 undocumented Mexicans in the United States are from Michoacan, Guerrero and Chiapas, according to the Colef study, where battles between organized crime groups have forced thousands to flee in recent years, sometimes leaving entire cities abandoned.
This content was originally published in Mexico builds temporary shelters in preparation for mass deportation on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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