The director of a shelter on the Texas border says his nonprofit has aided 1,300 people in the last five days after they were released by U.S. immigration officials.
Ruben Garcia of El Paso’s Annunciation House told the Associated Press that migrant-aid groups have been forced to expand services because the feds don’t have capacity to hold border crossers. More than 500 people arrived at his facility on Wednesday, he added.
Garcia told the AP that Annunciation House spends $150,000 monthly on housing because there’s not enough shelter space for newly arrived immigrants.
News of the overrun shelter comes as the Trump administration plans to start requiring migrants to remain in Mexico while their asylum cases move through American courts — a process that can stretch months or years.
The Department of Homeland Security also is facing increased scrutiny after the the death of a second migrant child in U.S. custody in less than a month.
Related Stories
This article appears in Dec 26, 2018 – Jan 1, 2019.
