North Texas shelters overwhelmed due to influx of migrants coming from the border north

Dallas, Texas – A lot of people are coming into North Texas from the border, making it hard for places that offer them a place to stay.

Last month, border officials saw almost 250,000 individuals trying to enter the U.S. from Mexico.

People who want to stay in the U.S. legally and have court dates are often sent to different parts of the country.

North Texas is a common area for them to pass through, and because so many are coming, places that help migrants are running out of space. This includes a church in Dallas.

“Everybody here in Dallas, as far as we know, they are over capacity. There is no other way to receive people,” Oak Lawn Unted Methodist Church Associate Pastor Isabel Marquez said.

There’s a lot of people coming to the Texas/Mexico border, and it doesn’t look like it will stop soon.

The church in Dallas tries to help people who are seeking safety after they’ve gone through official processes.

Pastor Marquez mentioned that the number of migrants they’re helping has gone up from getting one busload at the start of the year.

“We started seeing buses, 3-4 times a week, and that was from 40 and 80 people at the time, so we have seen the increase there,” she said.

Dallas serves as a stopover for many seeking asylum, who move on to live with a sponsor while they wait for their court hearings. However, this system is under strain.

The research from Syracuse University shows that the number of pending asylum requests has topped 3 million as of the end of November, a significant jump from 2 million the previous year.

Next week, a center in Dallas that welcomes such individuals will reopen. It coincides with the opening of their winter shelter for homeless people. The church is preparing to use its entire space, spread over three floors, to accommodate both migrants and the homeless.

“We are ready for them,” she said. “We are going to accommodate everything we need to receive them.”

Marquez observed that some asylum seekers list shelters as their contact address, which means they stay longer. However, she mentioned that they usually find a friend or relative to stay with until their court appearance.