Texas communities and border agents scramble to shelter migrants amid COVID-19 concerns

Rio Grande Valley — Seemingly overnight earlier this month, a park in the border city of McAllen, Texas, was transformed into a temporary tent city as local officials struggled to shelter an overwhelming number of migrants who had been released from U.S. custody after being processed by border agents.

On August 2, the city's mayor issued a disaster declaration, prompting the nonprofit Catholic Charities to erect a makeshift encampment downtown. The camp soon moved to Anzalduas Park, a nature walk along the Rio Grande River that is now home to approximately 1,000 migrants, including children as young as 9 days old. Communities like McAllen along the U.S.-Mexico border are scrambling to house a growing number of migrants seeking legal asylum in the U.S. who are released to await immigration court hearings. Buses driven by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) dropped off a record-breaking 11,026 migrants in McAllen last week, an average of 1,575 people per day. When they arrive, they're tested for COVID-19 under a gazebo, quarantined next to a playground and cared for in the open air.