On Saturday, a double amputee migrant was carried across the Rio Grande in an inflatable doughnut, exposing the desperation and escalating crisis at the border.
Maria Argentina, 32, was photographed crossing the US-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas, with her child this weekend as arrivals soared to new records, with as many as 11,000 people entering in one day last week.
A group of men helped the Honduran migrant cross the river in a rubber ring, while another group of migrants carried her two-year-old daughter Natalie Virginia.
In a moving scene, the mother and daughter were reunited after crossing the dangerous waters and were photographed together near a fence designed to keep them out.
As many as 232,972 migrants crossed the US-Mexico border in August, an increase from previous months.
Honduran double amputee Maria Argentina, 32, was pictured this weekend trying to cross the US-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas
Four men helped the Honduran migrant and her two-year-old daughter cross the river on a rubber ring
Then mother and daughter were reunited after crossing the dangerous waters and were photographed together near a fence meant to keep migrants out
The Democratic mayor declared a state of emergency in the small border town of Eagle Pass, where an estimated 100,000 people were believed to have waded into town last week through the Rio Grande, the river that flows between Mexico and the US.
About two million migrants are believed to have crossed the US southern border in 2023, with many citing Biden’s lax policies as the reason. Another 500,000 could cross by the end of the year.
Recently, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that another 800 troops would be sent to the border to help with the crisis, along with the more than 2,500 National Guardsmen already present.
A common route for many migrants involves hopping aboard U.S.-bound freight trains to cross the border. This has become so common that Mexico’s largest railway company has announced a suspension of services.
Those coming from further south travel mainly on foot, forcing them to cross the treacherous Darien Gap, a jungle area in Panama seen as a path between South and Central America.
However, these troops are not on the front lines and are reduced to administrative roles, allowing Customs and Border Protection officers to do more work with migrants.
Last week, Biden announced plans to quickly process more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants who have crossed the border since July 31, to provide some relief from the growing numbers facing underfunded border officials.
About two million migrants are believed to have crossed the U.S. southern border by 2023
Many migrants are victims of extensive multi-billion dollar human trafficking schemes run by drug cartels
The number of migrants has risen steadily since May 2023, when Title 42 expired. The Trump-era rule was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic and allowed officials to turn away en masse those crossing the border, citing public health risks.
This has led to more than double the number of migrants crossing the border every day. An average of 8,600 border crossings were recorded this weekend, up from 3,500, which was the average before the expiration of Title 42.
The Department of Homeland Security plans to grant temporary protected status to an estimated 472,000 Venezuelans who arrived in the country as of July 31, making it easier for them to get permission to work in the US.
That has been a key demand from Democratic mayors and governors as they struggle to care for a larger number of migrants under their care.
That is in addition to the approximately 242,700 Venezuelans who were already eligible for temporary status before Wednesday’s announcement.
The Roosevelt Hotel (pictured), the Paul Hotel and the Paramount Hotel are among the places designated for migrant housing in Manhattan
Venezuela has been plunged into a political, economic and humanitarian crisis over the past decade, forcing at least 7.3 million people to migrate and making food and other necessities unaffordable for those who remain.
The vast majority who fled settled in neighboring Latin America, but many came to the United States in the past three years through the notoriously dangerous Darien Gap, a stretch of jungle in Panama.
Many of the asylum seekers ended up in cities like Chicago and New York, where they were shipped north by Republican governors because they were fed up with what they say is an open-gun policy by Democrats.
Both cities have already spent millions from their own budgets to accommodate the flow of asylum seekers.
Chicago has seen 13,000 migrants arrive in the city since August 2022, with the increase expected to cost taxpayers $302 million by the end of the year.
The number of migrants needing shelter in Chicago has continued to increase in recent months, and city leaders have said they will follow New York’s lead by converting several locations around the city into migrant shelters.