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Some groups, schools in Houston prepare as immigration numbers increase

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Published  March 11, 2021 10:20pm CST
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FOX 26 Houston

How could the city of Houston be impacted by migrant surge

FOX 26’s Matthew Seedorff has more on whether the migrant surge could impact the city of Houston.

HOUSTON - The challenge continues at the Texas-Mexico border as thousands of immigrants seek asylum.

According to data provided by Customs and Border Protection, they had more than 100,400 migrant encounters in February, involving roughly 20,000 families and 9,500 unaccompanied minors.

Earlier this week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott visited the border and announced "Operation Lone Star".  The effort will involve the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Texas National Guard. Both agencies will be used to combat illegal drug and human smuggling.

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Throughout the last few weeks, Governor Abbott and President Joe Biden’s administration have been publicly disagreeing on the border issue.

"The crisis at our southern border continues to escalate because of Biden Administration policies that refuse to secure the border and invite illegal immigration," said Abbott.

"Governor Abbott has referred to what’s happening at the border, as to us having an open border policy," said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. "That is absolutely incorrect."

On Thursday, we spoke with several groups in the Houston area that work with immigrants.

"Anytime you have unaccompanied kids, it’s a crisis," said Dr. Robert Sanborn, CEO and President of Children at Risk. "There will be kids in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, depending where their parents are. We just need to be ready for them."

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We asked Dr. Sanborn, if Houston area schools will be impacted if a large amount of immigrants move to the area. According to Dr. Sanborn, some schools won’t need to prepare, while others are ready.

"When you look at the numbers, we have these big school districts, these are like drops in the bucket," said Dr. Sanborn. "We’re going to have to pay a little more attention, not only to the counseling for these new kids that were at the border, but all of these kids that have been traumatized by not being in school."

"We can see more influx of people coming in, but also more need for services for immigrants and refugees," said Cesar Espinosa from FIEL Houston. "We need the state government and federal government to step up, and fix our broken immigration system. So, we don’t have to deal with these crises all over and over again."