MCALLEN, TEXAS – A recent surge in undocumented immigrants, many of them children and young mothers, pouring into the US from the border city of McAllen in south Texas, has prompted many Filipinos in the area to reach out and help them.
The immigrants, mostly Central American in origin, are in desperate need of food, clothing and shelter.
Border Patrol agents drop-off the undocumented immigrants at a local bus station everyday, where they have become the object of concern of a growing number of residents, including the Filipino community, of the Rio Grande Valley vicinity.
Some of the Filipino volunteers spoke to a correspondent from the American Bureau of ABS-CBN.
“I saw blank faces of women and children when they come in,” said Grace Roa, a Filipino volunteer.
“Some of them travel on foot for a month. That’s a long journey, ” said another Filipino volunteer, Zarah Almirante.
Sister Pimentel of the Catholic Charities of Rio Grande Valley, which has opened its doors to temporarily provide shelter to some of the undocumented immigrants, said:
“In the long-term recovery, the community will continue to meet as a group so we can work together. We don’t know how long this is going to happen. It could be many months or years. We’ll continue working.”