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EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A shelter director in the Texas border city of El Paso says his agency has served 1,300 people just in the last five days after they were released by U.S. immigration authorities.
Ruben Garcia of Annunciation House said Thursday that nonprofit groups are having to expand the number of people they serve because border crossings are steadily rising and the government is running out of space to hold them.
Garcia estimates his organization is spending $150,000 a month for rooms because there isn't enough shelter space. More than 500 people arrived just on Wednesday.
Sister Norma Pimentel of Catholic Charities in Texas' Rio Grande Valley says her respite center is also serving more people than usual.
The Department of Homeland Security has come under harsh scrutiny after the second death of a migrant child in U.S. custody in three weeks.
A DHS spokeswoman says the U.S. is in "an immigration crisis."
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