Mexico erects tent city on US border in preparation for mass deportations

Mexico erected sprawling tents on the United States border as it braced for the effects of Donald Trump’s mass deportation drive.

In an empty lot in Ciudad Juarez, which neighbours Texas, cranes lifted metal frames for tent shelters.

Mexican city Nogales, which neighbours Arizona, announced it would build shelters on football fields and in a gymnasium. The border cities of Matamoros and Piedras Negras have launched similar efforts.

At a border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, on Tuesday night, one man shouted to journalists he was being deported in a group arrested that morning in farm fields near Denver.

Another man said he was in a group that had been brought from Oregon. Everyone carried their belongings in a small orange bag.

Neither man’s account could be independently confirmed.

Installation begins in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, for tents that will be used to house migrants deported from the United States. Photo / Getty Images

Beyond the tents, the Mexican government is building nine shelters in border cities to receive deportees.

It has said it would also use existing facilities in Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez and Matamoros, to take in migrants whose appointments to request asylum in the US were cancelled on inauguration day.

The Pentagon will begin deploying active-duty 1500 active-duty troops to help secure the southern border in the coming days, Trump announced on Wednesday.

The forces are expected to be used to support border patrol agents with logistics, transport and construction of barriers.

The preparations in Mexico came as it emerged Trump will start deporting illegal immigrants without court hearings after granting immigration officers sweeping new powers.

‘Expedited removal’

The Department of Homeland Security can now more quickly deport undocumented immigrants who cannot prove they have been in the country longer than two years.

The process, known as expedited removal, allows those who have entered the country illegally to be deported without court proceedings.

It has long been reserved for the southern border, but the policy, issued by acting Homeland Security Secretary, Benjamine C. Huffman, allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to use it throughout the United States.

The move could help Trump achieve the largest deportation programme in US history that he pledged to begin on the first full day of his presidency.

A notice of the policy published online reads: “The effect of this change will be to enhance national security and public safety – while reducing government costs – by facilitating prompt immigration determinations.”

During his first administration, Trump tried to implement a similar process nationwide, but the move was challenged in federal court.

The lengthy legal battle kept the rule from going into effect until late 2020, but it was later rescinded by the Biden administration.

It comes as the Justice Department is directing its federal prosecutors to investigate any state or local officials who stand in the way of beefed-up enforcement of immigration laws.

In a memo to the entire workforce, acting Deputy Attorney-General Emil Bove also instructs the Justice Department’s civil division to help identify state and local laws and policies that “threaten to impede” the Trump administration’s aims.

Prosecutors shall “take all steps necessary to protect the public and secure the American border by removing illegal aliens from the country and prosecuting illegal aliens for crimes committed in US jurisdiction”, the memo reads.

It also directs prosecutors to investigate potential criminal charges in cases in which state and local officials obstruct or impede federal functions.

“Federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, obstructing and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests,” it goes on to say.

“The US Attorney’s Offices and litigating components of the Department of Justice shall investigate incidents involving any such misconduct for potential prosecution.”

Meanwhile, refugees who were slated to travel to the US have had their flights cancelled after Trump’s executive order suspended refugee admission.

About 10,000 refugees had travel booked that is now cancelled, CNN reports.

In Chicago, immigrants are reportedly staying home from work to avoid potential ICE arrests.