Charitable organizations prepare for influx of migrants seeking asylum
DALLAS (CBSNewsTexas) - North Texas nonprofit organizations and churches are preparing to help an increase in migrants seeking asylum in the United States when pandemic-era restrictions, known as Title 42, expire next week.
Oak Lawn United Methodist Church typically welcomes about 100 migrants a week when buses from detention centers along the border arrive every Wednesday.
They help those seeking asylum reach their final destinations across the country.
"We expect that starting May 11, we'll see a significant shift in the number of people who are needing this kind of help," said Rev. Rachel Griffin, the senior pastor at OLUMC. "We've been asked right now to receive a bus of 100 people, five days a week. That's the level of increase we're expecting to see right now, because it's something we've coordinated with our partners on the border."
Griffin says lifting Title 42, which allowed the U.S. to quickly deport migrants seeking asylum during the pandemic, will get the immigration system back to what the normal operation has been.
"I want people to see and understand that this is a matter of us catching up because of an imposed ordinance that I believe has created this kind of bottle neck thing that has happened at the border that we're seeing now," she said. "So we're here to help. We hope that more people will see this as a model and a way that others can also help because the more people involved and helping to really smooth this will lessen the crisis that it can appear to be."
The church's operation is run almost solely by volunteers. They bring the asylum seekers inside the church and give them a place to rest after a long and treacherous trip to the U.S.
"I don't recommend anyone to do it because it's really dangerous," said Khelfoun Mohamed Abdelhamid, who is seeking asylum. "People died on the way."
Abdelhamid started his journey to the southern border from Ecuador, but he's originally from Algeria, a country in north Africa. He says he received threats there because his brother works for the U.S. Army.
"I was taken one time and requested to know stuff about my brother that I don't know, nothing about what he working on and all that, so I had always to be outside my country," he said.
Volunteers helped coordinate his travel to reunite with his brother.
"It's a miracle, really," Abdelhamid said. "I can't believe this really. People here took care of me and they fed me, they gave me water, and they gave me shelter and welcomed me."
Asylum seekers rarely stay at OLUMC more than half a day. Griffin says there will be an increase in activity when more buses start arriving and they'll need more snacks and clothing to give to the asylum seekers.
Gateway of Grace, a Dallas 501c3 that helps refugees start over, is also preparing for an influx of migrants needing their services.
The organization responds to the immediate needs of families with food, clothing, hygiene supplies, as well as helping them learn the language, find jobs, and receive pastoral care. They say they need more volunteers to help refugees restarting their lives.
Garrett Pearson, the executive director of World Relief North Texas, released the following statement about the potential impact of Title 42 ending:
As the Title 42 pandemic rule is lifted and longstanding U.S. immigration laws – Title 8 – are re-imposed at the U.S.-Mexico border, we anticipate that many individuals fleeing hardship will come to the border. Based on what the federal government has described, we anticipate that most will be returned by the U.S. government to their countries of origin or, in some cases, to Mexico, but some others will be allowed to enter the U.S. to pursue an asylum claim under the terms of U.S. law. Throughout all of our offices across the United States, World Relief is eager to serve vulnerable immigrants, including these asylum seekers, to the extent that our limited resources allow, working in close partnership with local churches and other community partners. And we will continue to advocate for long-overdue immigration reforms that would ensure both secure borders and due process and humane treatment for those fleeing persecution, rooted in our Christian conviction that each person is made in God's image.
At this time, neither the City of Fort Worth nor the City of Dallas is directly involved in receiving or processing migrants crossing the border into Texas.
