Mayor: SLRC can’t handle migrants sent back from US
City not prepared, needs gov’t assistance
SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Son. — Without help from the Mexico’s federal government, this city will not be able to meet the demand for shelter space among immigrants who are repatriated here while waiting for their applications for U.S. asylum to be decided, the mayor says.
Santos Gonzalez said his city, located across from San Luis, Ariz., is not prepared for what he foresees as a major influx of migrants as a result of a measure recently announced by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as part of its Migrant Protection Protocols.
The measure was agreed to by the U.S. and Mexico governments in the wake of President Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on Mexico to stem the arrival of Central American immigrants. San Luis Rio Colorado is designated in the protocols as one of the destinations for migrants returned to Mexico to wait for immigration judges in the United States to act on their applications.
“Being honest, we are not prepared to receive so many migrants,” Gonzalez said. “We have shelters, but they are for the city’s own needs, for situations such as the high temperatures. We are not able to shelter people two or three months at a time, which is the period of time they supposedly will be waiting here.”
Gonzalez said the longterm impact of the measure is unknown, because details are still being worked out.
“We still don’t know how the return of the migrants is going (to take place). Negotiations are at a high level between the (Mexican government) and the United States. They gave us some details but we don’t know everything. It could be hundreds, it could be thousands who are returned — we don’t know exactly.”
Besides San Luis Rio Colorado, other cities designated to host asylum seekers are Mexicali and Tijuana, across from Calexico and San Diego respectively, and Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas.
Gonzalez said his administration has gotten
assurances from federal authorities of some support to handle the influx of returning asylum seekers, such as a pledge to provide funding for rentals of buildings as shelters.
He added that the Mexican government is also looking at implementing a temporary jobs program for repatriated migrants.
Gonzalez said he supports efforts of Mexico’s president to resolve the migrant crisis with the Trump administration.
“It’s about a humanitarian issue involving our Central American brothers and our own compatriots. The problem is being addressed, and things are being done to improve it,” he said.
“The administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador made a good and correct decision to negotiate with them. There’s a political reason to be on good terms with the United States.”