Immigration in El Paso
El Paso is a binational city before it is anything else. Census Bureau estimates put the population near 680,000, with roughly one in five residents born outside the United States, about 81 percent Hispanic or Latino, and close to two thirds of households speaking Spanish at home. A routine family case here usually has a petitioner in El Paso, a beneficiary in Juárez or Chihuahua, and an interview at the U.S. Consulate General in Ciudad Juárez, where every Mexican immigrant visa is decided.
Non-detained removal cases from El Paso are heard at the El Paso Immigration Court at 700 E. San Antonio Avenue downtown. Detained cases are heard at the El Paso SPC Immigration Court, inside the Service Processing Center on Montana Avenue. Green card and naturalization interviews take place at the USCIS El Paso Field Office on Hawkins Boulevard, and fingerprints are taken at the Application Support Center on Montwood. ICE's El Paso field office covers West Texas and all of New Mexico. People arrested here are held at the Service Processing Center, at Camp East Montana on Fort Bliss, or at the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico.
Fort Bliss families
Fort Bliss has roughly 30,000 active-duty soldiers, and many of them have a spouse or parent without status. Parole in place gives the undocumented spouse, parent or child of a service member or veteran a lawful entry on paper, which in most cases opens the way to a green card without leaving the country. Service members themselves can naturalize through their service without the usual residence requirements. The USCIS field office and the Application Support Center in El Paso both see military personnel without an appointment.
Our El Paso office at 213 S El Paso St works the same file as our office in Ciudad Juárez. The petition and any I-601A or I-601 waiver are prepared in El Paso; the medical exam, interview preparation and any 221(g) follow-up happen in Juárez. The office also handles naturalization, asylum, U visas, bond hearings for people detained in El Paso and Otero County, and removal defense at both El Paso courts. Consultations are available in Spanish. Call (915) 221-1649.