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El Paso aid agencies overwhelmed as 1,600 migrants are cast on to streets
Source: The Guardian
El Paso aid agencies overwhelmed as 1,600 migrants are cast on to streets
US authorities leave families to fend for themselves, a practice local bishop calls ‘inhumane and unconscionable’
Amanda Holpuch in New York
Sun 30 Dec 2018 06.00 GMT
The US government has released more than 1,600 migrants on to the streets of El Paso, Texas, this week, overwhelming aid agencies that have scrambled to find shelter for families left to fend for themselves.
Advocacy groups said the mass release was “unprecedented”, as volunteers turned out in droves to bring food, water and medicine to migrants stranded in the border city.
“It is unacceptable to release families with children, some of them very young children, to the street,” said Ruben Garcia, executive director of Annunciation House, El Paso’s largest migrant shelter operator. “That, we have to say, is a non-negotiable, that is simply not acceptable. Whatever logistics, whatever pressures may exist, we have got to find a system to ensure families are not released to the street.”
The chaos began last Sunday night, when 214 people, all families, were released without the usual warning given by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) to Annunciation House, Garcia said. Volunteers worked until at least 2am or 3am trying to find shelter, Garcia said.
-snip-
Garcia said immigration authorities had coordinated travel for released families with Annunciation House and its network of shelters for “the last five years”, until this week.
-snip-
US authorities leave families to fend for themselves, a practice local bishop calls ‘inhumane and unconscionable’
Amanda Holpuch in New York
Sun 30 Dec 2018 06.00 GMT
The US government has released more than 1,600 migrants on to the streets of El Paso, Texas, this week, overwhelming aid agencies that have scrambled to find shelter for families left to fend for themselves.
Advocacy groups said the mass release was “unprecedented”, as volunteers turned out in droves to bring food, water and medicine to migrants stranded in the border city.
“It is unacceptable to release families with children, some of them very young children, to the street,” said Ruben Garcia, executive director of Annunciation House, El Paso’s largest migrant shelter operator. “That, we have to say, is a non-negotiable, that is simply not acceptable. Whatever logistics, whatever pressures may exist, we have got to find a system to ensure families are not released to the street.”
The chaos began last Sunday night, when 214 people, all families, were released without the usual warning given by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) to Annunciation House, Garcia said. Volunteers worked until at least 2am or 3am trying to find shelter, Garcia said.
-snip-
Garcia said immigration authorities had coordinated travel for released families with Annunciation House and its network of shelters for “the last five years”, until this week.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/30/migrants-el-paso-texas-aid-agencies-overwhelmed
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