Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Monday 17 June 2019

Record number of African migrants coming to Mexican border

By ANDREW SELSKY and committed since late 2016
PATRICK WHITTLE by soldiers of the country's
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — French-speaking majority,
Undaunted by a danger- which holds power.
ous journey over thousands A few days after the big
of miles, people fleeing groups of African immi-
economic hardship and grants were apprehended
human rights abuses in Af- in Texas, federal officials
rican countries are coming dropped off dozens of
to the U.S.-Mexico border in them in San Antonio. Of-
unprecedented numbers, ficials in the Texas city
surprising Border Patrol sent out a plea for French-
agents more accustomed speaking volunteers for
to Spanish-speaking mi- translating work "and most
grants. importantly, making our
Officials in Texas and even guests feel welcome."
Maine are scrambling to Many were bused to Port-
absorb the sharp increase land, Maine, about as far
in African migrants. They as one can get from the
are coming to America af- Mexican border and still be
ter flying across the Atlantic in the continental United
Ocean to South America States. Word has spread
and then embarking on an In this June 13, 2019 photo, Prince Pombo speaks about his family's journey as migrants from Af- among migrants that the
often harrowing overland rica, at the Portland Exposition Building in Portland, Maine. city of 67,000 is a welcom-
journey. Associated Press ing place. Somali refugees
In one recent week, agents were resettled in Portland
in the Border Patrol's Del Rio walking in separate groups Grande, children in tow. larger numbers and seek- in the 1990s.
sector stopped more than along the arid land after That is more than double ing asylum at ports of entry. A total of 170 asylum seek-
500 African migrants found splashing across the Rio the total of 211 African On recent Saturday in Ti- ers arrived in recent days.
migrants who were de- juana, there were 90 Cam- Hundreds more are ex-
tained by the Border Patrol eroonians lined up to get pected in an influx that
along the entire 2,000-mile on a waiting list to request City Manager Jon Jennings
(3,200-kilometer) U.S.-Mexi- asylum that has swelled to called unprecedented.
co border in the 2018 fiscal about 7,500 names. Also on With one shelter already
year. the waiting list are Ethiopi- full, a basketball venue
"We are continuing to see ans, Eritreans, Mauritanians, called the Portland Exposi-
a rise in apprehensions of Sudanese and Congolese. tion Building was converted
immigrants from countries Cameroonians generally into an emergency shelter.
not normally encountered fly to Ecuador because no Portland officials tweeted
in our area," said Raul Ortiz, visa is required and take Thursday that rumors some
head of the U.S. Border Pa- about four months to reach of the migrants are carry-
trol's Del Rio sector. Tijuana. They walk for days ing the Ebola virus "are pa-
The immigrants in Texas in Panama through dense tently false," and said that
were mostly from the Re- jungle, where they are of- as asylum seekers, they are
public of the Congo, the ten robbed and held in in the United States legally.
Democratic Republic of government-run camps. On Thursday afternoon,
the Congo and Angola. They come from Cam- families in the Expo chatted
Cameroonians have also eroon's English-speaking in French and Portuguese
been traveling up through south with horrifying stories as children kicked a soccer
Mexico and into the U.S. in of rape, murder and torture ball near rows of cots. q