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About one-fifth of migrants transported by bus from El Paso to New York reportedly want to travel to the Big Apple and are not being transported against their will.
Blake Barrow, CEO of the charity El Paso Rescue Mission, said his organization has been overwhelmed by the influx of migrants crossing the border illegally, but the immigrants are more than happy to accept the offer of Texas Governor Greg Abbott. to take them to New York. York City.
“About 20% of them want to go to New York,” Barrow wrote in an open letter on Wednesday. “The city has chartered buses to New York to help those who want that destination.
“I don’t know anyone who was put on a bus to New York who didn’t want to go there.”
The charity El Paso Rescue Mission said at least 20 percent of Texas city migrants want to be bussed to NYC. Pictured: Migrants sleep in the charity’s chapel, where beds have been set up to accommodate the sudden influx of people in need of shelter
The charity said it is overwhelmed as more than 1,000 migrants arrive in the border town every day, but officials say many see the town only as a stopover to their desired destination.
In an open letter to Washington on Wednesday, Blake Barrow, CEO of El Paso Rescue Mission (above) urged the government to do something about the influx of illegal crossings.
El Paso has sent 51 buses carrying 2,365 migrants to New York City so far since August 23
The crisis at the border is escalating to such an extent that 1050 migrants arrive every day, mostly from Venezuela, and Barrow’s organization is struggling to help the newcomers.
He said the sheer number of people showing up every day puts pressure on the shelter, and staff fear they won’t be able to feed and clothe everyone who needs it.
Local food banks have bare shelves and shelters are bursting with beds as cots have now been placed in the chapel of the El Paso rescue mission to accommodate the extra people.
“The number of migrants we are getting to El Paso is so great that it is overwhelming the housing and support services the city can provide.
“Obviously we need a well-coordinated federal solution to this problem, but so far no one from Washington has asked our opinion,” Barrow wrote.
Barrow echoed the words of El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, who defended his decision to send busloads of migrants to New York City earlier this week by claiming he was merely trying to help them reach their desired destination.
El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said the migrants who have flooded his city are trying to reach other places in the country and claims his bus program is meant to help
The community struggles to help the migrants, many of whom are children. Pictured: A group of Venezuelans, who recently crossed into the US from Mexico, walk together after receiving food and other aid from a Good Samaritan on September 20, 2022 in El Paso
The shelves are bare at good banks like El Pasoans Fighting Hunger. For years, the city has generously welcomed and fed migrants – but the current influx is draining resources
Leeser said migrants don’t just come to the US to land in his border town, but instead look for other places in the country — possibly where they have family or other sponsors.
“People don’t come to El Paso,” Leeser said. “They’re coming to America.”
He said authorities in El Paso are speaking to migrants and asking them where they want to go before “we will take them and help them get to their destinations.”
“That’s been very important that we don’t send anyone where they don’t want to go,” he added in an interview with ABC’s This Week on Sunday morning. “We’ll make sure we help them.”
“We put them on buses with food and make sure they get to their destinations and make sure we always greet and treat people like people.”
Mario D’Agostino, the city’s deputy health manager, supported the mayor’s claim that nearly all new arrivals wanted to be transported to larger cities by bus.
“By far the vast majority of them have asked to go to New York City. We’ve also had several large groups asking to go to Chicago,” he said.
El Paso has sent 51 buses carrying 2,365 migrants to New York City since Aug. 23 — and seven more buses left for the Big Apple on Saturday.