SAN ANTONIO – A sudden influx of migrants along the U. S.-Mexico border has led to a flood of people into the San Antonio area.
Many of them have shown up at the Migrant Resource Center, located in the 7000 block of San Pedro, causing an overflow of people in and around the North Side facility.
With every person who arrived, there seemed to be a different story of struggle in search of a new life.
Ernesto Lugo detailed his three-month-long journey in Spanish on Thursday morning, telling how he walked from his native Venezuela through six different countries.
Lugo’s travels took him through jungles and other dangerous places, through Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico, where he finally was able to make his way into the United States.
Once Lugo was processed out through the migrant center, he had plans to travel by bus to meet up with his cousin in Dallas.
However, a mix-up with his bus ticket had him spending an extra day at the center.
Lugo planned to leave Thursday afternoon.
Damian Garcia, meanwhile, was stranded after also traveling for months from Venezuela.
Garcia said he was headed to a friend in New Jersey, who had paid his travel expenses this far.
The friend ran out of money, though, leaving him with no way to go anywhere else.
Other people spent the night on the streets near the migrant center, saying that the facility was too crowded to accept them.
In a written statement Wednesday night, Catholic Charities, which runs the center, acknowledged that it has been busier than usual.
The statement said the center usually holds about 700 people, but in recent months, had been seeing about 750 arrive each day seeking help.
KSAT 12 News called Catholic Charities again Thursday morning, looking for answers about the current situation, both inside and outside the center. No one returned that call as of late Thursday morning.
The crowding situation, meanwhile, is attracting attention from people in the area.
“It’s an emergency situation,” said Luis Borrego, a local taxi driver. “I pray every day that somebody do something urgent for these people.”