Non-border cities getting migrants
Authorities struggling to handle sudden influx
MIAMI— A surge of asylum-seeking families has been straining cities along the southern U.S. border for months, but now the issue is flowing into cities far from Mexico, where immigrants are being housed in an airplane hangar and rodeo fairgrounds and local authorities are struggling to keep up with the influx.
U.S. immigration officials have eyed spots in states like Florida, Michigan and New York to help process the migrants before they move on to their destination.
And in border states, cities that are several hours’ drive from Mexico are seeing hundreds of migrants a day.
The situation is leaving local authorities and nonprofits with the task of providing shelter for a night or two, a few meals and travel assistance.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has historically ensured that families had travel plans before releasing them, but last year it shortened custody stays in response to the growing numbers of arrivals. They began dropping migrants off in cities along the border at burgeoning shelters and bus stations.
At the same time, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which turns over border crossers to ICE after arresting them, has begun flying migrants to other cities for processing and is releasing them directly into communities without going through ICE, saying their own facilities are at capacity.
In New Mexico, the cities of Las Cruces, Deming and Albuquerque have embraced relief efforts. But the board of commissioners of sparsely populated Sierra County, in the same state, approved a resolution Tuesday that opposes the relocation of migrants there, citing the area’s impoverishment and lack of transportation.
The Border Patrol has also been releasing daily about 65 migrants in the highly remote desert town of Blythe in California. Riverside County spokeswoman Brooke Federico says more than 1,800 asylum seekers have arrived at the town since late March.
About 250 migrants have been arriving each day in Deming. Half of them are spending a night or two at the fairgrounds, normally used for rodeos, and the rest go to an abandoned World War II airplane hangar.