'We’ve never seen anything like this': As Trump threatens to close border, migrants overwhelm Texas cities

Article publisher: 
USA Today
Article date: 
31 March 2019
Article category: 
National News
Medium
Article Body: 

Border Patrol agents expect to see more than 100,000 apprehensions and encounters with migrants in March, the highest monthly total in over a decade....

EL PASO – Under a bridge connecting the U.S. with Mexico, dozens of migrant families cram into a makeshift camp set up by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The families are there because permanent processing facilities have run out of room.
 
Seven hundred miles east, busload after busload of weary, bedraggled migrants crowd into the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas. Organizers there are used to handling 200 to 300 migrants a day. Lately, the migrants have been arriving at a clip of around 800 a day, overflowing the respite center and straining city resources....
 
Border Patrol officials were on pace in March for more than 100,000 apprehensions and encounters with migrants – the highest monthly tally in over a decade, he said. Around 90 percent of those – or 90,000 – crossed the border between legal ports of entry....