'Our patience is running out' Juárez mayor upset after migrants rush border bridge

Juárez police are stepping up efforts to guard the international bridges amid growing frustration following the migrant border rush on Sunday that blocked the Paso Del Norte Bridge for five hours.

The bridge blockage exasperated already lengthy crossing waits on the bridges connecting Juárez and El Paso that are vital in the economic, cultural and familial ties that span the Rio Grande.

Migrants are hurting themselves along with everyone else with stunts such as the border bridge rush, Juárez Mayor Cruz Perez Cuellar said at a Monday news conference.

“I understand they don’t know border history and everything behind it, but the truth is our patience is running out," said Perez Cuellar, who will meet with Mexican state and federal officials on Wednesday to try to find solutions.

On Monday night, a group of nearly 200 more Venezuelan migrants arrived by train in downtown Juárez with the goal of crossing into the United States, according to local news reports.

On Sunday afternoon, hundreds of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, ran onto the Paso Del Norte Bridge (also known as the Santa Fe Bridge) amid false rumors on social media that the U.S. was opening the border to them.

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The stampede was stopped at the border line at the middle of bridge by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in riot gear behind concrete and plastic barriers. There were also small disturbances at the Stanton Bridge and the Bridge of the Americas, CBP said.

"We have come to a crucial point to put a stop to this," Perez Cuellar said. "They could impact the city’s economy and thousands upon thousands of Juarenses, El Pasoans and people from Las Cruces by the actions like (Sunday), which are totally foreign to the realities of the border."

There are also complaints about large groups of male migrants intimidating and harassing women drivers while panhandling and squeegee washing windshields at Juárez intersections, the mayor said. Shelter space and jobs are available but some migrants have said they make more money panhandling, he added.

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Perez Cuellar emphasized that migrants should not be stigmatized as criminals but the law should be respected.

Juárez police are working to dialogue with migrants and inform them of laws regarding the border zones and sexual harassment, Police Chief César Omar Muñoz Morales said, adding that the aim is to find solutions and not necessarily make arrests.

Muñoz Morales explained that municipal police officers are limited on what they can do on the actual border bridges since they are federal property.

"If they are respectful of the law, we will not have problem or a conflict with them. But if they don’t respect the law here in Mexico, they will be sanctioned," the police chief said.

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Growing frustration among migrants in Juárez

A group of Venezuelan and Colombian men stood on the sidewalk Monday after the mayor's news conference outside the Hotel Ursula, a low-budget hotel by the railroad tracks in Downtown Juárez.

Several had been waiting in Juárez for months; they said that while frustration with the CBP One app led other migrants to protest on the bridge, they were waiting and trying for appointments to seek asylum or an exception to Title 42 expulsion.

They leaned against the large windows of what in 2019 was a restaurant called the Caribbean Queen, staffed by Cuban migrants who waited months or years to seek asylum in the U.S.

The Cubans and their restaurant are gone, as are the heaping plates of pork, plantains and rice and the sweet espresso coffee they served. Building owner Enrique Aguilera Aguilera had the stove and buffet bar removed, the space painted white and 19 mattresses laid on the ground.

Migrants, including 26-year-old Marlon Omaña, now pay 200 pesos a night for one of the beds.

Omaña said he left his native Colombia because "there are almost no opportunities there." Unlike many other migrants who make the dangerous trek through Central America on foot and by bus, Omaña flew to Juárez via Mexico City.

He arrived in February, he said, and applied for an appointment on the CBP One app. He planned to present at the Paso Del Norte bridge on Thursday — but the U.S. isn't his destination, he said.

Echoing an increasing number of migrants from Venezuela and Colombia, Omaña said he has set his sights further north: Family is waiting for him in Calgary, Canada.

Lauren Villagran contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Juárez mayor upset after migrants rush border bridge in El Paso