North Texas nonprofits prepare to receive more asylum seekers
DALLAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) – More migrants are expected to arrive in North Texas with Title 42 expiring at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, but the vast majority won't be staying here.
Nonprofit organizations and churches are preparing to receive more asylum seekers and help them reach their final destinations.
"I do want everyone in the community to know that every single person that comes here has been processed by the border patrol," said Almas Muscatwalla, the border and government liaison with Dallas Responds. "They've been cleared by the border patrol. They're good to go. They're just like you and me, they just have the same aspirations you and I have for the American dream."
Every Wednesday, Oak Lawn United Methodist Church in Dallas turns into a temporary day shelter for migrants coming from detention centers along the border through the Dallas Responds initiative.
"We've been running this operation for quite some time," Muscatwalla said. "We've got this down, we're the only ones doing it."
The asylum seekers typically don't stay at the church for more than half a day.
Volunteers provide a change of clothes and food, before helping them travel to where their sponsors are located around the country. That's where they'll wait to make their case in court.
"We're just here to serve them and tell them the United States is a welcoming country for everyone," said Isabel Marquez, an associate pastor at Oak Lawn United Methodist Church.
Now, volunteers are getting ready to scale up their services dramatically.
Title 42 allowed the U.S. to quickly deport migrants seeking asylum during the pandemic. When it expires tomorrow, the church expects to go from helping 50 to 100 migrants a week to 100 a day, five days a week.
"Now, we're going to pick up all those cases that were refused or denied at some point," Marquez said. "We're just going to pick up all that that we left three years ago."
Advocates say any impending crisis at the border illustrates just how broken the immigration system remains.
"So let's deal with it by fixing the system and getting both parties to find middle ground, as opposed to just picking the extremes of the left or the right," said Domingo Garcia, national president of LULAC.
In the meantime, Dallas volunteers will continue to help those who are here legally, seeking asylum.
"These people are making that bold decision, to leave their families behind to come to this country with the hope that people will understand them," said Muscatwalla. "It is still the system. The court will still make the final decision."
Oak Lawn typically helps single adults right now, who are traveling alone, but expects to see more families with children coming here from El Paso in the coming days.
They'll need more volunteers and donations of clothes, food, and diapers to keep up with the increase.
Daily buses of asylum seekers will likely start arriving at the church Monday morning.
At this time, neither the City of Fort Worth or the City of Dallas will be directly involved in receiving or processing any migrants coming from the border.