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May 16, 2023What followed was a quieter than expected weekend in Texas, Arizona, California and nearby Mexican cities.
At Gate 42 of the border wall with El Paso, the number of migrants arriving has dwindled since Friday. On Sunday morning, the local news media reported, only about 20 people were waiting to turn themselves in. However, state and federal authorities — including the military and migration officials — have intensified operations in Samalayuca, about 30 miles south of Ciudad Juárez, to reduce “risks to the migrant population,” they wrote in a statement.
The sprawling migrant encampment caught between walls at the San Diego-Tijuana border has also emptied out in recent days as Customs and Border Protection officers begin to process the people waiting there. Trash bags and abandoned belongings were left behind. On Friday, Tijuana’s mayor, Montserrat Caballero, told reporters that “no serious incidents” had been reported by the authorities.
In Tamaulipas, the scenes of chaos that led many desperate families to cross the Rio Grande have mostly disappeared. In Matamoros, two officials with the Red Cross estimated that crossings had continued in an orderly manner. About 200 people showed up at entry points requesting asylum — only one-quarter of whom had not previously scheduled an appointment through the CBP One app, the officials said in an interview.
Miguel González Ponce, a local pastor who helps house migrants in Ciudad Juárez, confirmed in an interview that shelters across the city had only around 1,400 people.
“Contrary to what was expected, migrants are not arriving en masse,” he said.
Administration officials said their new border policies and the added resources contributed to the lack of chaos.
“We have been planning for this transition for months and months,” Mr. Mayorkas said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. He added: “It is too early. But the numbers that we have experienced over the past two days are markedly down over what they were prior to the end of Title 42.”
