'Where else can I go?': Migrants face freezing Christmas at US-Mexico border

Several thousand people camping outside or in bare-bones shelters in the border cities of Matamoros and Reynosa are expected to be affected by freezing temperatures

Migrants, mostly from Venezuela, rest during a night of low temperatures in downtown El Paso, Texas, US, Dec 23, 2022. REUTERS

Hundreds ofmigrantsprepared to camp in the cold atMexico's northern border overChristmas, hoping for a swift reversal inUS migration restrictions as they endure the bite of a winter storm ravaging the United States.

After theUS Supreme Court this week ruled that restrictions known as Title 42 could stay in place temporarily, manymigrantsare facing aChristmasweekend of whatMexico's weather service called a "mass of arctic air."

"I'm staying here, where else can I go?" said Walmix Juin, a 32-year-old Haitian migrant preparing for the weekend in a flimsy tent in the city of Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas. "I never thought I would spend aChristmaslike this."

Temperatures in the border cities of Matamoros and Reynosa, where several thousand people are camping outside or in bare-bones shelters, are expected to hover aroundfreezingon Saturday and only slightly improve on Sunday.

Further west in Ciudad Juarez, where hundreds ofmigrantshave been lining up to seek asylum at the border with El Paso, Texas, temperatures are forecast to drop to minus six degrees Celsius (21 degrees Fahrenheit). Many have been sleeping in the streets.

Officials have provided more space in shelters in recent days, but somemigrantsare wary.

Wearing a baseball hat and jacket zipped to the chin, 29-year-old Venezuelan Antony Rodriguez has tried to stay warm in Matamoros by huddling under blankets in a tent with five relatives, he showed in a video shared with Reuters.

After an arduous trek across Central America andMexico, Rodriguez said he turned down the offer of a shelter because he feared authorities would bus them south.

"We feel they'll send us back," he said.

Another Venezuelan in Matamoros, Giovanny Castellanos, said he was camping out in a tent on theborder,wrapped up in blankets, to keep abreast of developments.

"If you go to shelter you're further from here where the real information is," the 32-year-old said.

Title 42 allows the United States to returnmigrantstoMexicoor certain countries without a chance to request asylum. It had been due to end on Dec. 21 before the court ruling. Without clarity on when it will finish, some officials worry their cities could be overwhelmed if moremigrantsturn up.

"US migration policy has a big impact here on theborder," Reynosa Mayor Carlos Pena Ortiz said on Friday.