By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Del Rio’s migrant processing center is seeing an increase in the number of migrants who claim to have no money to continue their journey and as a consequence, are staying here.
Tiffany Burrow, operations director of the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition’s migrant processing center in south Del Rio, spoke to the 830 Times earlier this week about the migrants she is seeing now.
“In September we had 10,221. In October we averaged a little under 2,000 per week, so it was a little under 8,000 for October. We actually received buses on Thanksgiving. We were open, and then the day after was, so far, the record-breaking day, and we had 838 the day after Thanksgiving,” Burrow said.
Burrow said the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition is no longer participating in the state of Texas’ busing program, known as “the Governor Abbott buses,” a move by the Texas governor to bus migrants – free of charge – to self-proclaimed “sanctuary cities” elsewhere in the United States.
“Two months ago, VVBHC made a decision to no longer participate in state busing, so that hasn’t happened for two months now,” Burrow said.
Asked to explain why she no longer used the state buses, Burrow
said, “There had been a change in how it was done. . . There had been a curfew of when people could arrive in these (destination) cities. They took that away, so the buses could arrive in those cities at any time, 24/7, and then they were not able to allow coordination with the NGOs in those locations, to let them know in advance when the buses were arriving.
“So it changed from buses being able to be met (by NGO volunteers in the destination cities) to buses arriving at 2 in the morning in Chicago, Ill., while temperatures are dropping, and knowing that there is no shelter available, knowing that they would be in the streets, and VVBHC couldn’t in good conscience participate in that,” Burrow said.
“Those cities (of destination) have made it very clear that they are doing all that they can do, and they are maxed out, at capacity, as shelters across the United States are,” she added.
“The majority of people coming through now no longer request those locations where the state buses were going because through social media the word has gotten out that those locations are saturated. That would have been Chicago, New York, Denver. The number of people asking to go to those cities has gone down considerably. Another reason why it didn’t make sense for us to participate in the state busing program,” Burrow said.
As Burrow spoke, two large charter buses stood in the parking lot outside the center, waiting for migrants to get on them. Both buses, Burrow said, were headed to San Antonio.
“Everyone that is coming through Del Rio, their final destination is not Del Rio, so they will go on to San Antonio where there’s an international airport, a Greyhound bus station and Amtrak train service,” Burrow said.
Burrow also said she has seen a change in the makeup of the migrant demographic.
“Up through October, even into November, we averaged about 5 percent of people coming in who didn’t have funding and they didn’t have a plan. But give them some time, and they would work it out and carry on and get their Greyhound tickets, and we wouldn’t really see them in the community. That’s what’s changing and that’s why the community is seeing an increase of people on the streets right now. What’s changed is that percentage is now up to 25 percent,” Burrow said.
“Those 25 percent don’t have tickets, don’t have a plan, and even if we had all the funding in the world, and sent them to San Antonio, they’re just going to sit in San Antonio, because they still don’t have a way to get to their final destination,” she said.
During our interview, Burrow and several other volunteers dealt with a handful of migrants who were not leaving the premises after repeatedly being told they could not remain on-site.
Before the 830 Times arrived for the scheduled interview, volunteers at the center called Del Rio police to issue criminal trespass warnings to several men who have been hanging around near the facility for several days.
The men – and several women – have begun squatting on private property across the street from the migrant center. Some of the men have hung blankets across the bays of a vacant car wash behind the former Lago’s Drive-In convenience store, creating makeshift campsites.
As loads of new migrants disembark from buses that arrive at the center, the men and woman drift back across the street, attempting to mingle in with the new arrivals for another free meal or two. Burrow and her volunteers do what they can, but with hundreds of milling men, women and children, it’s impossible to keep an eye on everyone.
“It’s a very fine balance of welcoming versus unwelcoming and as the attitude has shifted and the belief that it’s okay to be doing what they’re doing, as that has shifted, it changes how we are able to help,” Burrow said.
Burrow said when she first arrives at the center in the mornings, she is now having to pick up trash left by migrant squatters who are staying overnight in the facility’s covered seating area. She said migrants are even camping out inside some of the playground equipment.
“This is not intended to be an overnight shelter. It never was designed to be an overnight shelter, and yet that’s what we’re seeing now,” she said.
“The answer is not to have a location where people can stay overnight. That is not the answer,” Burrow said.
As she was speaking to the 830 Times, one of the police officers who had responded to the call earlier said he had spoken to one of the women, and she had told him she has no money to buy a ticket. He said he told her to contact family here, and said she told him she has no family in the United States.
“I told her to keep trying,” the officer told Burrow.
“But she can’t stay over here,” Burrow told him.
Burrow also said she has noticed that more of the migrants coming into Del Rio now have a different attitude towards people who are trying to help them.
“People have really big hearts, and when people bring socks or blankets or jackets, when they come, this demographic is a lot more entitled, aggressive and they swarm anyone who brings anything, and that’s what’s allowing these people to stay,” she said.
Burrow reiterated the VVBHC is not buying bus tickets for migrants.
“The only thing we’re giving out is we have a very generous donation from the Salvation Army of breakfast and lunch kits, so if the migrants come in the morning, they’re getting a breakfast kit, and if they come in the afternoon, they’re getting a lunch kit. I can only feed them one time, and when they come back for seconds or thirds or come back the next day, I don’t have the extra diapers, the extra food, for these people.
“Community members are making it really comfortable for them to just camp out, and I’m not sure that’s the message our city wants to give this volume of people. I think the really concerning point is that we’re not just seeing singles, we’re seeing families, and the children are in t-shirts with no shoes, and these parents have made the decision to put them in these circumstances that are not beneficial to them,” Burrow said.
Burrow said monetary donations are still being accepted on VVBHC’s Facebook and web page.
She also asked people to clean out their closets “for your old hoodies, sweaters and jackets” and put them in a box and take them to the center, for those migrants in need without proper cold weather clothing.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
