Annunciation House: ICE to release 600 migrants a day for 3 days; churches need to help

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to release as many as 600 immigrants a day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, said Ruben Garcia, the executive director of Annunciation House.

Annunciation House is a shelter in South El Paso that works with ICE to house migrants seeking asylum while they meet up with sponsors or relatives elsewhere in the U.S.

Garcia told ABC-7 he does not know if the Annunciation House network of hospitality shelters will have enough space for that many immigrants over the weekend. Garcia said he is reaching out to hospitality shelters in Albuquerque to see if they can help.

The head of Annunciation House told ABC-7 that if every church in El Paso stepped up and provided shelter for at least 20 immigrants released by ICE, the problem of running out of room for immigrants would be solved. Garcia says there as many as 400 churches in El Paso which could provide shelter, and help alleviate the problem of sheltering immigrants, mostly from Central America.

” If each one of those faith communities received, if they made the commitment to receive 20 refugees per week, just per week, that woulds allow us to receive 8,000 refugees per week, ” said Garcia.

Garcia’s plea for help came a day after Annunciation House was unable to immediately find room for nearly 200 immigrants released by ICE Tuesday night, triggering the mobilization of El Paso’s Office of Emergency Management.

Laura Cruz, a spokeswoman for the City of El Paso, said the City cannot legally provide shelter for the immigrants. The City stepped in to try to prevent ICE from releasing the immigrants into the streets with a plan to offer the Nations Tobin Sports Complex in Northeast El Paso as a ” regrouping site ” where the migrants could wait until their temporary accommodations were secured by Annunciation House.

A Border Patrol agent, who did not want to be identified, told ABC-7 hundreds immigrants are waiting along the border on Wednesday to turn themselves in, adding to an already overwhelmed network of hospitality shelters.

Also on Wednesday, the El Paso Police Department sent out a text message alert asking for volunteers to help with an expected surge of migrants. ” Urgent. Volunteers are needed today and tomorrow to help local Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) with influx of migrants released yesterday and today, ” the alert stated.

According to El Paso Fire Chief Mario D’Agostino , people interested in volunteering should contact the Annunciation House at 915-545-4509.