Hundreds of migrants released to shelters in El Paso and Las Cruces
On Tuesday afternoon, the federal government released 378 migrants to the care of local churches and organizations across El Paso and Las Cruces.
“There’s a surge right now,” said Ruben Garcia, director of the Annunciation House. He said this group has “no connection” to the caravan of thousands of migrants crossing through Mexico.
“It was a difficult journey, but thank God we got here safely,” said Norma Araceli Lopez in Spanish. She told ABC-7 she traveled with her ten-year-old and fifteen-year-old daughters from Guatemala.
Their journey to El Paso was almost two thousand miles.
“When a surge comes, we have to open up additional hospitality sites,” Garcia said. “We will continue to open them as the need arises.”
The Catholic Diocese of El Paso received 100 migrants just before 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
“In Guatemala, we lived in poverty,” another father, who identified himself as Hector, said in Spanish. “We’re looking for a better life.”
“We can do something,” Bishop Mark Seitz said. “We have resources that they only dream of, very often. We can share.”
The Diocese has offered temporary shelter in St. Charles Seminary Martyrs Hall in the Lower Valley.
“We’ll be learning on the job how we need to care for them and organize it,” Seitz said.
Seitz said the Dioce of El Paso is offering temporary shelter to the migrants, to include food, a hot shower and a telephone to get in touch with their family.
“If it’s a choice between a person spending the night in the cold on the street with nothing and coming here and perhaps, the service not being what we’d like it to be, we’ll take them,” Seitz said.
President Donald Trump has said there are “some very bad people” mixed into the caravan of thousands of migrants.
“Please go back, you will not be admitted into the United States unless you go through the legal process,” Trump tweeted on Monday. “This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!”
“God will not be outdone in generosity,” Seitz said. “When we serve someone in need, we firmly believe that God is going to provide.”
Who is temporarily accommodating the migrants? According to Annunciation House: 23 migrants to El Calvario Methodist Church (Las Cruces) 22 migrants to Holy Cross Retreat Center (Mesilla) 28 migrants to Peace Lutheran Church (Las Cruces) 20 migrants to Blessed Sacrament Church (El Paso) 66 migrants to hotels 100 migrants to St. Charles Seminary Martyrs Hall 62 migrants to Loretto Academy (El Paso) 50 migrants to Centro San Juan Diego Church (El Paso) 7 migrants to Annunciation House (El Paso)
