By Lizbeth Diaz

MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – Migrant shelters across northern Mexico warned Thursday that they are at risk of being overwhelmed next week by an influx from asylum seekers as the United States begins a Trump-era program for returning them to Mexico.

The U.S. President Joe Biden tried to stop the policy in a humanitarian approach to migration. However, federal courts ordered the restart of so-called Migrant Protection Protocols. These protocols require that asylum seekers wait in Mexico to be heard by U.S immigration authorities. Mexico said Thursday it had agreed to a restart https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-restart-trump-era-border-program-forcing-asylum-seekers-wait-mexico-2021-12-02.

Most likely, the returns begin Monday at a single border crossing. Eventually, it will expand to seven.

Director of shelters said this could lead to an increase in people coming into their facility during a period of high migration from Latin America, the Caribbean and other countries.

Jose Garcia, the director of Juventud 2000 in Tijuana (one of the most likely cities to receive asylum seekers), stated that “We are saturated by the arrival of Haitians… Central Americans, and hundreds of Mexicans, displaced by violence”.

He said that the coronavirus pandemic already had forced him to decrease his capacity.

Local officials were also concerned about the source of funding to support migrants who have been waiting for U.S. hearings.

Carmen Canturosa (mayor of Nuevo Laredo), a notorious border town for violence and crime, stated that the federal government had not notified them about a larger budget.

Mexican officials and the U.S. both said that they will respond to Mexico’s human rights concerns over the revamped program. However, rights advocates claim that this policy poses serious dangers to migrants.

Fernando Garcia, Director of Border Network for Human Rights El Paso (Texas), stated that “they are returning them in cities which represent a threat to these families because criminal and cartel violence,”

Since 2019, thousands of migrants have been returned to Mexican border cities. Many waited for months, sometimes even years, in makeshift shelters or bare bones shelters.

Andrea Lopez, Guatemalan Migrant, said she was sorry to hear that more refugees were being placed in her circumstances. After requesting asylum at the Mexican border, she has been living in Tijuana for the past several months with her children.

She said, “We cannot even work.” She said, “Everything is extremely dangerous.”