Mexican authorities have begun constructing giant tent shelters in the city of Ciudad Juarez to prepare for a possible influx of Mexicans deported under U.S. President Donald Trump's promised mass deportations.

The shelters in Ciudad Juarez will have the capacity to house thousands of people, a municipal official has said.

"It's unprecedented," said Ciudad Juarez municipal official Enrique Licon as workers unloaded long metal bracings from tractor trailers parked in the large empty lot yards from the Rio Grande in order to build a tent city for deportees from the United States.