US-Mexico border readies for up to 5,000 migrants a day as Covid rules expire

Emergency housing, food and other essentials are being set up in preparation for an influx of migrants at Texas border cities

Along the US southern border, two cities – El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez just across the waters of the Rio Grande in Mexico – are trying to prepare for a new surge of as many as 5,000 new migrants a day as pandemic-era immigration restrictions are set to expire this week, setting in motion plans for emergency housing, food and other essentials.

On the Mexican side of the international border, only heaps of discarded clothes, shoes and backpacks remained on Sunday morning on the riverbank, where until a couple of days ago hundreds of people were lining up to turn themselves in to US officials.