Mexican officials concerned about the health of Mexican asylum seekers including around 200 young children sleeping in the open near the U.S. border in Ciudad Juarez tried to move people to shelters on Wednesday, as temperatures dropped below freezing.

In recent months, Ciudad Juarez has seen a rapid increase in Mexicans seeking to apply for asylum in the United States, leading to a backlog in the city as U.S. border officials limit the number of asylum cases they receive at the port of entry each day.

A waiting list contains about 1,200 people, of which about 550 are staying in camps near the bridge to the United States, the Chihuahua state government said. Nearly half of those in the camps are children under the age of 12.

“For their own good, they can’t be in these public spaces,” said Enrique Valenzuela, who heads the civil protection services in Chihuahua state and was trying to persuade the migrants to shift to shelters.

“It is for the good of their sons and daughters who are exposed to crime and above all the inclement weather.”

Weather forecasts predict freezing temperatures in the Ciudad Juarez-El Paso area through the weekend.

Policies under U.S. President Donald Trump aimed at reducing the number of new arrivals in the United States have led to tens of thousands of mainly Central American asylum seekers living for months in Mexico as they await U.S. court dates or interviews with border officials.

Immigration advocates say the policies expose vulnerable populations to crime, extortion and the elements. Read more

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Mexican officials concerned about the health of Mexican asylum seekers including around 200 young children sleeping in the open near the U.S. border in Ciudad Juarez tried to move people to shelters on Wednesday, as temperatures dropped below freezing.

Mexican officials concerned about the health of Mexican asylum seekers including around 200 young children sleeping in the open near the U.S. border in Ciudad Juarez tried to move people to shelters on Wednesday, as temperatures dropped below freezing.