Laredo presents plans for migrant surges as end of Title 42 nears
With Title 42 coming to an end and a resulting increase in migrants expected, the City of Laredo's Office of Emergency Management provided a report this week on its response to the COVID-19 migrant crisis and discussed plans for how various scenarios will be handled going forward. There were 118,215 migrants processed by Border Patrol in Laredo in 2022 who were then released into the custody of the local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of the Holding Institute and the Catholic Charities Diocese of Laredo. The Biden Administration previously announced it plans to end the COVID-19 national emergency and public health declaration on May 11.
When that ends, so will Title 42 which permitted several emergency actions by the government including the expulsion and removal of people who have been in a country recently where communicable disease was present. Laredo Fire Chief and Emergency Management Coordinator Guillermo Heard presented to City Council on Monday, April 17. He discussed what the expectations are for three potential phases of numbers of migrants processed per day.
Heard also emphasized that much of the processing in Laredo is assisting with migrants who crossed from other sectors. "We see a lot of lateral movements in our community. We don't see a lot of the movement that they are crossing the river or at the bridge and seeking asylum," Heard said. "For different reasons, we are seeing the Rio Grande Valley or Del Rio when they are crossing, because there are a lot of migrants there they are processing, they are sending them to Laredo in lateral movements to help them process here because they only have 72 hours with them."
District III Councilmember Melissa Cigarroa echoed that sentiment when discussing a recent meeting with Raul Ortiz, the Deputy Chief for the U.S. Border Patrol. According to Cigarroa, Ortiz said they are catching closer to 27,000 migrants locally, and the remaining total comes from other processing centers.
Along with centers along the Texas border, it also includes migrants from Yuma, Arizona. However, according to Cigarroa, Ortiz said he intends in the future to focus just on Texas cities being assisted by Laredo. "Just to be clear that the push of immigrants that we are expected to see doesn't really come through Laredo.
They come through other cities that ironically have a wall. I'll just point that out," Cigarroa said. "That is where the large flow of immigrants come from. Because CBP here in Laredo does such a good job, they are asked to process these immigrants to carry on whatever their plans are."
Phase I of Laredo's Immigration Response Plan presented by Heard is for when there are between zero and 1,000 immigrants being released per day from the CBP Enhance Processing Center to NGOs. Heard said the city plays a minor role in this scenario mostly providing medical triage coordination with NGOs. "We are letting them take the lead.
They give us reports," Heard said. "We meet with CBP and Border Patrol regularly. ... They just tell us what they are seeing and how they are preparing." In the plan submitted to the federal government for Phase I, the projected cost would be £2,206,731.60.
The majority of the funds would be for covering overtime costs to the personnel assisting with triage. Phase II of the plan would be for if 1,000 to 2,000 immigrants are released per day. In this scenario, the NGOs would be near or at capacity and would require an increase in assistance.
Heard said Laredo would take a more active role with increased medical triage personnel, increased security from the Laredo Police Department, shelter preparation and more. The projected cost would be £4,785,126. Phase III of the plan would be for if the immigrants released per day exceeds 2,000.
In this scenario, NGOs would exceed capacity and the City of Laredo would need to assist in providing travel to final destinations using busing, airlines and other methods. Also, the Emergency Operations Center would expand to being open 24 hours per day, the Laredo Fire Department would provide triage at the ECPC, the Laredo Police Department would increase its presence downtown and around NGOs, community development would create shelter operations for overflow from NGOs, and the health department would provide surveillance of immigrants at shelters for COVID-19 and other communicable diseases such as tuberculosis. The projected cost for Phase III would be £10,983,350.99.
Heard said this would again primarily be overtime costs, but it would also include equipment, shelter operations and more. "This is the plan in case it goes beyond the numbers. I know we've talked directly with the Border Patrol chief and asked them to see if they can contain it between 1,000 to 2,000.
What they have told us before is they have no control of that, but they will work with us as best as possible to keep the numbers down and to keep moving those lateral movements to other communities as well." Along with complimenting the quality of Laredo's soft-sided processing facility and how it respectfully and compassionately handles the immigrant flow, Cigarroa also complimented the proactive approach presented by Heard. "We are all trying to cope with this immigrant surge as best as we can," Cigarroa said. "It is so good to hear the City of Laredo is taking a very proactive role in stepping up what those services may be simply because we expect that surge.
On the broader political front, we need immigration reform.
We know here in Laredo, you cannot secure the border if you don't have immigration reform."
References
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