Surge in border crossings may send some migrants to Harris County courts

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- A powerful new video from the border showed how personal the journey into the United States can be for migrants. ABC News captured the moment a family dropped on their knees to pray after making it over safety. They're part of a surge happening in west Texas.

On Sunday night, 1,500 migrants crossed the Rio Grande into El Paso, further pushing facilities past capacity.

A Trump-era rule allowing some migrants to be turned away immediately at the border is set to expire next Wednesday. Federal officials said the word is out, and that means border cities are bracing for more crossings.

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New videos showed families walking toward El Paso together, holding hands, their bags, and small children.

Many of the migrants are fleeing violence in Central and South American countries like Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Ecuador. This surge led to more than 5,100 people being held in a border patrol processing center that's designed to temporarily hold only 3,500.

"There's a lot of migrants trying to come in to the United States asking for asylum, and there's been a lot of delays in processing these asylum seekers," Naimeh Salem, Harris County immigration attorney, said.

Salem said the pandemic slowed the courts down, and there aren't enough people working to process the long lines of migrants seeking legal asylum in border towns. There is a chance that some will wind up going through the process in Harris County.

"Now, we have three courts in Houston, and they are hiring new judges. We are seeing a lot of new judges, so we do have the capabilities. But still, there will be long waiting periods of time, because we have a lot of people. More than we can handle at this time," Salem said.

City leaders in El Paso will meet with Homeland Security officials on Tuesday, to figure out how to handle one of the largest mass crossings ever in that region.

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