Wednesday 21 September 2022 09:17 PM El Paso food banks and shelters beg Biden for help under strain of influx of ... trends now
Kind-hearted volunteers running food banks and shelters in the border town of El Paso are begging the Biden administration to help them ease the crisis they have created by allowing thousands of migrants to enter the country every week.
The crisis at the border is escalating to such an extent that 1,050 migrants, predominantly from Venezuela, are arriving every day. They are overwhelming the town, whose residents have always welcomed migrants and provided them with food and resources but who are now struggling to keep up with the demand.
In an impassioned plea for help on Wednesday, the CEO of the Rescue Mission of El Paso, a religious shelter which welcomes the homeless, said no one from Washington DC had been in touch.
He said the sheer volume of people turning up every day is straining the shelter, and that staff fear they cannot feed and clothe everyone who needs it.
The food banks have bare shelves and shelters are bursting with beds. Cots have now been set up in the chapel at the rescue mission to accommodate the extra people.
Migrants in the Rescue Mission of El Paso are now sleeping in the shelter's chapel, where beds have been set up to accommodate the sudden influx of people in need of accommodation
Cots inside the chapel at the Rescue Mission of El Paso as the town struggles to cope with the influx of migrants
The shelves are bare at good banks like El Pasoans Fighting Hunger. For years, the town has generously welcomed migrants and fed them - but the current influx is stretching resources
A group of Venezuelans, who recently crossed to the U.S. from Mexico, walk together after receiving food and other aid from a good Samaritan on September 20, 2022 in El Paso, Texas
Venezuelans who recently crossed to the U.S. from Mexico, hang out near the Greyhound bus station waiting to continue on their journey on September 20, 2022 in El Paso, Texas. In recent weeks, Venezuelans have arrived in increasing numbers in El Paso
Asylum-seeking migrants, mostly from Venezuela, wait in line to be processed after crossing the Rio Grande to El Paso, Texas, U.S., as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, September 19, 2022
