ICE has dropped off 5,000 migrant family members at local churches in the past two months
Federal immigration authorities have been releasing large groups of migrant families from Central America at local churches because they don't have the capacity to hold them. But two months after ICE began releasing the families, and with no end in sight, the churches are becoming overwhelmed. On Nov. 30, 2018, ICE released 60 families, totaling about 130 men, women and children, at Casa de Oracion Number 2, a Hispanic church in north Phoenix. The pastor greeted the families as they got off Department of Homeland Security buses, taking their first steps in the United States.
Daniel González, Arizona Republic
Published 9:42 p.m. MT Nov. 30, 2018 | Updated 1:15 p.m. MT Dec. 1, 2018
Federal immigration authorities have released about 2,500 Central American families at Hispanic churches in the Phoenix area over the past two months, totaling more than 5,000 people, according to one pastor.
The families had recently crossed the border illegally in southwestern Arizona, which has become one of the most popular entry points for a growing wave of migrant families arriving at the southern border seeking refuge in the United States.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials began releasing large groups of migrant families at local churches in mid-October before the large caravan of more than 5,000 Central Americans arrived in Tijuana in November.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news...es/2156585002/
