Thread: Migrant shelters in El Paso closed down after decrease of migrants being released

Local migrant shelters in El Paso closed down after decrease of migrants being released

by Jala Washington
Tuesday, July 2nd 2019

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — Local groups and churches across the borderland are no longer taking in migrants.

This comes after some of those groups have spent nearly a year doing so.

Some churches said the Annunciation House told them there is no longer a need for migrants to be taken in because there has been a huge drop in the number of migrants who are being released to the Annunciation House.

It's a sudden change, which many still haven't fully come to terms with.

Just weeks ago, the Catholic Dioceses of El Paso said it shut its migrant center down.

“This is actually where the shelter was operating for those nine months,” said Marisa Limón Garza, deputy director of the Hope Border Institute.

The diocese’s migrant center—one of the largest hospitality centers within Annunciation House's network -- went from seeing up 100 migrants a week to just small families at a time.

“When we were seeing that the numbers were dwindling, that the numbers of people that were coming to the shelter were not as in great a need, it made sense to go ahead to shift our efforts and push people toward the Casa del Refugiado,” Garza said.

This change, seeming as if it happened overnight has many asking: What's different now? After all, Border Patrol facilities are still processing large groups of migrants.

“We’re thinking that the changes in the number of folks is really based on the migrant protection protocols, the Remain in Mexico program, where people are waiting for their asylum claim in Juaréz," said Garza.

Caminos de Vida Church, once filled with migrants with no other place to go, now is much emptier most days.

“It’s been different because we were so accustomed to just being nonstop for 24 hours a day for the past four months,” Pastor Paul Cabrera said.

Cabrera said Annunciation House told them a couple of months ago they wouldn't be receiving any migrants.

As things seem calmer now, Garza said the crisis is not over.

“Everything is not great, ultimately — we know that. We know that things have just shifted,” she said.

The Catholic diocese and Caminos de Vida church said its members will still be helping migrants out any way possible.

However, the Annunciation House will go back to being the sole place migrants are temporarily housed, at least for now.

https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/local-...being-released

Send them all back to Mexico.

Not one taxpayer dime to transport them ANYWHERE within the United States. No Greyhound bus ride, no airplane rides. We are not their Travel Agent or Uber Driver.

Offer bus ride back home!

CUT THOSE COSTS OUT OF THE BUDGET...THEY CAN FUND THEIR OWN DAMN TRANSPORTATION WITHIN THE USA! THIS IS NOT THEIR SUMMER VACATION AND WE FOOT THE BILL FOR IT!