By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Immigrant numbers are on the rise again, and the Supreme Court’s ruling that upheld a former administration’s “remain in Mexico” measures are being ignored, County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. told fellow members of county commissioners court Tuesday.
“They keep coming. We had 1,400 in June, 1,600 in July, 3,600 in August, and as of today (Sept. 14), we’re over 800 at the NGO (non-governmental organization),” Owens told the court at the start the discussion.
He noted those numbers are from the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition’s migrant processing center in south Del Rio. The coalition is a non-governmental organization (NGO) working to move migrants out of Del Rio as quickly as possible.
“And we’ve had 600 under the (international) bridge; is that true?” County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton asked.
“We’ve had anywhere from 1,000 to 600,” Owens replied, and Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez called out, “Two thousand,” from his seat in the audience.
The county judge said he expects those numbers may increase soon.
“We were told, I guess a little over a month ago, that there’s still caravans out there that are headed, not so much to Del Rio, but are headed this way, that are in the 25,000 range, and the individuals that are underneath the bridge, if there’s no food, they walk back (to Mexico), go get food, and the rest of the family stays in line, so they go back and forth, and the number increases and decreases,” Owens said.
“Are we vaccinating them underneath the bridge? Or does that only apply to Americans?” Nettleton asked.
“We vaccinated 2,000 on top of the bridge that were maquila (twin plant) individuals and they’ve asked if we can do more, their military police or their aduana (customs officials) or whatever, and that is going through the National Guard,” Owens said.
“The ones underneath the bridge we’re not vaccinating or testing none of them,” the judge added.
“But we’re going to mandate the rest of the country to get the vaccine, not the people coming over here illegally,” Nettleton interjected.
“There’s a bunch of them coming, and they’re going to continue to come,” Owens said.
“What is Mexico doing?” Nettleton asked.
“Well, the (U.S.) Supreme Court basically knocked down (President Joe) Biden’s deal so they (immigrants seeking asylum) had to stay in Mexico. It’s not happening,” Owens said.
“I don’t know if the border’s moved, and it now includes underneath the bridge,” Nettleton joked.
“I guess last month the Supreme Court had upheld what a lower court has said, which was that they needed to stay in Mexico, but it’s not happening. The flights that I was kind of hanging my hat on when we went to see Secretary Mayorcas are going to start and continue, to fly back some of them to the point of origin and some to the interior of Mexico, and it’s my understanding those flights have now dwindled down to nothing,” Owens said.
“Again, without throwing rocks at Democrats or Republicans, but it is the Democrats who have the presidency right now, and under his administration, the rules have changed. . . . My opinion – and I’m probably fixing to get in trouble here – is that if you cross the water, you are illegal. We are a nation of immigrants. It is what it is, but what we have right now does not work,” Owens said.
There were no further comments, and the court took no action following the discussion.
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