CBP begins releasing migrants in Brownsville

CBP begins releasing migrants in Brownsville

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MIGUEL ROBERTS/The Brownsville Herald

U.S. Border Patrol agents on Tuesday dropped off about 60 migrants at the Good Neighbor Settlement House in Brownsville.

Posted: Tuesday, March 26, 2019 2:47 pm
By MARK REAGAN Staff Writer

Border Patrol dropped of 60 women and children from Central America at the Good Neighbor Settlement House Tuesday morning.

Good Neighbor Settlement House Executive Director Jack White said a bus from U.S. Customs and Border Protection dropped the group off at the shelter at approximately 8 a.m.

“We’ve had a house full of young mothers and young children. We’re trying to triage them and determine whether we may have some more dropped off, trying to determine where we might put people,” White said.

Catholic Social Services has helped with some clothing and shoes for children and White said he is reaching out to local churches about using churches for over flow.

“We are managing. I can imagine our feelings are parallel to Sister Norma when she began to receive these kinds of drop offs,” White said. “But the young women are cordial and cooperative. The children are polite. And we’ve had two police officers come to help manage things. They’ve been really wonderful.”

Sister Norma Pimentel runs the Catholic Respite Center in McAllen, where CBP has released hundreds of immigrant families.

CBP said in a prepared statement sent to The Monitor last week, that migrants held at facilities are being released with a notice to appear in court, rather than being sent to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.

“The current increase in RGV apprehensions has resulted in the limited availability of space in the RGV central processing center and stations,” the CBP statement read.

Christina Patiño Houle, Network Weaver for the Rio Grande Valley Equal Voice Network, said the release of migrants from the processing center and stations in Brownsville was the first of its kind.

Before, CBP would release approximately 20 to 60 individuals who had posted bond from the Port Isabel Detention Center at the bus station all throughout the day.

“So, it’s a different type of release,” Houle said.

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