ASYLUM

The cold weather concerns migrants lining up to seek asylum at the border. Some are seen wrapped up in blankets as they wait to cross into El Paso. The same concern is also happening in Del Rio.

SAN ANTONIO – Even the day after two sisters from Honduras were reunited in San Antonio, seeing the joy and relief in their faces was “just beautiful,” said Pastor Katie Best-Richmond of the San Antonio Mennonite Church. Up until then, she said, “We’ve all been nervous and scared.”Rosa and her younger sister, Maritza, had not seen each other in two years. Yet, somehow, Maritza was able to quickly apply for asylum at the border and was released only about a day later. She said, given the sisters were reunited this week even as the influx at the border continues, “It is a miracle. “They are just absolute joys, and they are so kind and loving to everyone that they meet,” Best-Richmond said.

“They cannot cross the border without having a negative test result,” Romero said. The other group is people who crossed the border illegally and are dropped off by U.S. Customs and Border Protection under the catch-and-release program. Of those tests, 169, or just over 13%, tested positive, but that’s just for the city of Brownsville. Romero said local non-governmental organizations have set up shelters and hotel rooms for those who test positive to stay in and quarantine if they choose to. Romero said the city received 10,000 Rapid COVID-19 tests from the Texas Department of Emergency Management to facilitate the process.

Greg Abbott announced Texas would be the first state to reject the resettlement of refugees, a federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order allowing state and local governments to do exactly that. Greg Abbott, a Catholic, draws criticism over new refugee ban from Texas’ Catholic BishopsGavin Rogers, associate pastor of Travis Park Church, said he’s hopeful, but it’s important the courts understand refugees are not asylum seekers. Then, Rogers said, the refugees are matched with nonprofits, many of them faith-based, that help them make the transition once they arrive. “The resettlement program is the best way you can possibly seek migration,” Rogers said. As a result, Rogers said many migrants who converged on the border last year had to apply for asylum because they couldn’t enter as refugees.