An emergency shelter installed in the border city of McAllen, Texas for COVID-positive migrants have expanded their ability to keep up with a flood of cases.
More than 850 infected migrants have entered the facility after being released into the city, authorities said.
The city announced Wednesday that it was installing temporary emergency shelters in response to a wave of "rapidly increasing" immigrants crossing the border, warning that the influx has turned into a "crisis."
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION BEGINS FLYING MIGRANTS EXPELLED THROUGH TITLE 42 TO MEXICO AMID COVIDED FEARS
"Despite the best efforts of the City of McAllen and its community partners, the large number of immigrants entering the city has turned into a crisis - a crisis that the City of McAllen did not create and has tried to avoid proactive for seven years, "the city said in a statement.
The city said Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had released more than 7,500 COVID-positive migrants in McAllen since February and more than 1,500 in the last week. Migrants who test positive are being asked to self-quarantine with a local charity, but the centers are overwhelmed.
Subsequently, the border city municipal commission approved a temporary emergency shelter for the "overwhelming number of immigrants stranded in McAllen by US Customs and Border Protection."
As of Friday there were several hundred migrants housed in the complex, which had an initial capacity of 250. Authorities said they were prepared to handle 650, but Mayor Javier Villalobos said later Friday on Fox Business that there were about 850 people. In the shelter.
Vallalobos warned that the migrants who are released do not stay in McAllen, but move throughout the United States.
"The issue of whether they have COVID or not, ... they go all over the country and we have to do something. We need to stop it somehow; we have to stop the flow," he said in "Fox Business Tonight". "But we can't stop it."
The situation in McAllen is the latest indicator of the continuing crisis on the southern border facing the Biden administration and other border cities and states.
IMAGES FROM THE DONNA, TEXAS MIGRANT CENTER SHOW CLEARING CONDITIONS AS BORDER NUMBERS INCREASE
More than 188,000 migrants were encountered in June and that number is expected to rise to more than 210,000 in July. June also saw a 25% increase in migrant family encounters and an 8% increase in unaccompanied children.
On Thursday, Health and Human Services announced that there were more than 830 unaccompanied child detentions in a single day, significantly higher than the 30-day average.
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The Biden administration has recognized the risk of COVID-19 spread from increased migrants and has kept Title 42 public health protections in place, renewing them earlier this month. On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed he was flying those expelled through Title 42 to the interior of Mexico, citing the Delta variant.
"As part of the United States' mitigation efforts in response to the increase in COVID-19 cases due to the delta variant, the Department of Homeland Security has begun transporting people expelled under Title 42 by plane into the interior of Mexico." said the Department of Homeland Security. the spokesperson told Fox News.
