Several photos that have emerged show what appear to be hundreds of immigrant families caged under the Paso Del Norte Bridge in El Paso, Texas.
The photos were initially tweeted by Washington Post immigration reporters Nick Miroff and Bob Moore, who said the immigrants are being held there because the border patrol station in El Paso — just beyond Ciudad Juarez in Mexico — is full.
— Nick Miroff (@NickMiroff)
Moore tweeted that the holding pen appears temporary, but that some families tell journalists they’ve been caged there for at least four days. Moore added that the immigrants are being held on the U.S. side of the border.
Hundreds of migrants are being held under the Paso Del Norte Bridge in El Paso, near the site of Commissioner McAleenan’s press conference.
— Bob Moore (@BobMooreNews)
According to , who has spoken to some people after their release, some have been there 4 days.
— Bob Moore (@BobMooreNews)
These photos are just the latest examples of the Trump administration’s controversial methods of detaining immigrants. One of the most notorious sites is the “tent city” in Tornillo, Texas, which saw its capacity in the months following the official end of the Trump administration’s policy of separating undocumented children from their parents at the border.
Even though the policy was brought to a halt in June of 2018, the Trump administration quietly continued the policy, in the months following the announcement that family separation had ended. And last month, it was reported that thousands of immigrant children in U.S. custody had been at detention centers between 2015 and 2018.
The undocumented families being held under the bridge include families with children, meaning they have not yet been separated. It is unclear as of this writing whether or not they will be prosecuted or sent back to Mexico. Neither border officials nor White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders have issued statements in response to the photos as of this writing, nor is it known how long the space underneath the Paso Del Norte Bridge has been used to detain immigrants.