Migrants in El Paso

4 News - El Paso
by Jhovani Carrillo | Ariana Parra
Sunday, September 11th 2022

EL PASO, TX (CBS4) — Both the City and County of El Paso will be discussing several items in relation to the recent migrant surge in El Paso.

According to U.S Border Patrol in the El Paso Sector, there has been "a significant increase in migrant encounters compared to previous fiscal years."

Since the beginning of September, the El Paso Sector has seen an additional increase to an average of more than 1,100 daily migrant encounters.

The El Paso city council agenda for Monday states the city is considering ratifying a contract with Gogo Charters LLC to bus migrants to other cities.

According to the item, the city will discuss the "pricing for these services for a term of sixteen (16) months for a total amount not to exceed $2,000,000.00."

Meanwhile, the County of El Paso agenda for Monday indicates that commissioners will Discuss and take appropriate action on identifying funds for the proposed Migrant Support Services Operations Center and ongoing migrant support needs.

These discussions come following the recent migrant surge in the borderland.

"We have seen an uptick in the numbers that we see on a daily basis," said Mayor Oscar Leeser. "Weeks ago, a month ago we were seeing about 2,3 to 400 a day. Now, we are seeing anywhere from 1,000 to 1,400 a day."

Last week, city leaders said most of the migrants coming to the city in this recent surge were from Venezuela.

El Paso City Manager Tommy Gonzalez said many Venezuelan migrants who came to the city don't have the means to make it to their next destination.

The city has been helping them.

"When the Venezuelans came, they didn't have anyone sponsoring them and that's when the chief and his team worked with all the different agencies in order to get them to a different location," said Gonzalez.

"The vast majority have requested NYC so that's where we have been sending charters," said Mario D'agostino. "We are at the maximum. 4 charters a day is probably what we can gather."

The city council meeting is set to start at 9:05 a.m. and the county commissioners court will start at 9:30 a.m.