Border shelters run low on food and hygiene products as migrants stay longer amid crackdown

Migrant shelters on the Mexican side of the border are running low on food and hygiene products as more people are staying for longer amid a crackdown on crossings by both the U.S. and Mexico, according to Border Report.

A person working at the Good Samaritan shelter, which is run by the Catholic church, told the outlet that they are tending for the needs of 70 people, when the figure was 40 not long ago.

"We believe we will see a marked increase in the coming days here and at other places, so we should be prepared. Our biggest need is food," said Rev. Juan Fierro.

He drew a direct link between the increase and the executive order by the Biden administration cracking down on asylum-seeking once the average amount of border crossings over a week exceeds 2,500.

Fierro added that people are now getting to the shelter with the intention of staying, rather than continuing toward the river to cross unlawfully. "They know the only way to come in legally to the United States now is through the application. They will seek the shelters, rest and begin their application through the app," he added, in reference to CBP One, which allocates 1,450 asylum-seeking appointments a day.

Migrants' wariness to cross is being reflected in the latest figures, which showed a 24% monthly decrease so far in June. Concretely, Customs and Border Protection data shows an average of 560 daily encounters this month, compared to 750 in May.

The outlet cited other sources saying that there were a little over 2,000 encounters along the Southwestern border on Monday. The figure is 75% lower than the 8,057 encounters recorded in December, among all-time highs.

The drop can be explained by additional factors to the Biden administration's actions: one is enforcement from Mexico, whose authorities have been increasingly preventing migrants from reaching the border over the past months.

Recent reports have shown that, lacking the funds to deport migrants, authorities are wearing them out until they give up. Checkpoints are located all over Mexican highways, with armed soldiers pulling migrants off buses and round up those walking along roads and in surrounding mountains.

An increase in repatriation flights from the U.S. is another factor, as many migrants are reluctant to go back to their home countries, be it because of not wanting to make the journey again or because they face larger levels of uncertainty once they get back.

Expedited removals are a third factor, as officers are largely enforcing a 1996 federal law allowing them to send back people without a valid asylum claim rather than have them face an immigration judge.

Heat is also playing a role, as recent temperatures have been way above the average for this part of the year, with triple or near-triple digit figures for weeks in a row. Overall, 82 people have died so far in the El Paso sector, many of them due to the heat.