According to a report, United States Border Patrol in southcentral California reports that it began dropping off migrants at San Bernardino’s Greyhound Station last Wednesday because housing facilities are beyond maximum capacity.
The move comes amid a surge in migrants – mostly from Central America – crossing the United States/Mexico border in recent months.
And Reuters reported that in the seven months leading up to April, detainment of unaccompanied children or migrant families has gone up more than 380 per cent from the same period a year earlier.
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said that the flocking in of migrants has overwhelmed the United States Border Patrol stations originally structured to house single adults. The agency said the stations have struggled to keep up with the numbers.
Migrants awaiting court hearings to decide whether they can stay in the United States have for years been dropped off at bus terminals in the southwest by Customs and Border Patrol agents.
On Monday, the San Bernardino Sun reported that 230 Central American migrants had been dropped off just last week alone and about 4,000 has been dropped off since last October. John P. Sanders, CBP’s Acting Commissioner issued a press release Saturday calling the situation at the border a “national emergency.”