In Texas, humanitarian aid groups are preparing for freezing weekend temperatures as a growing number of asylum seekers continue to arrive from the U.S.-Mexico border. In El Paso, hundreds of asylum seekers have been forced to sleep on the streets after shelters reached capacity. Others are still stuck in Mexico after the U.S. Supreme Court put a temporary hold on terminating the Trump-era Title 42 pandemic policy — used to block over 2 million people from entering the U.S. to seek asylum. Across the border, in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, hundreds of people waited in line Thursday despite plummeting temperatures, hoping they’d be allowed into the U.S. This is Crismary Rodriguez, a Venezuelan national who journeyed to the U.S.-Mexico border with her family.
Crismary Rodriguez: “We who have families and want to provide for our children cannot enter the United States. We are at Christmas. Many are sharing with their families. Others, like us, are far from our families, and our children are having a hard time. There’s December 24th, and you don’t know where they’re going to sleep.”