HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Some migrants have been spending several days at the Valley International Airport as they await their departure to their next destination.
Some migrants have stayed in the airport for nearly one week; sleeping in the lobby and bathing in public restrooms.
“We’ve been here five days waiting on our flight. Our flight is tonight at 8. Our journey is almost over, thank god. Always blessing us, and to god to continue blessing those who are still making their journey and to protect them,” Roger, Venezuelan migrant said.
Migrants who are bussed to the airport must have a plane ticket to be transported. The airport is increasing custodial services and security measures as they continue to handle the situation.
“We just went back through our crew and change, you know, if we’re going to have people overnight in the terminal building, we want to make sure that, you know, we were able to take care of restroom facilities and things like that. And so we were staffing more at those hours,” Marv Esterly, Director of Aviation at Valley International Airport said.
The City of Harlingen is capable of handling about 60 to 70 migrants comfortably in its shelter. The shelter also has partnered with a local church to expand that number in case there’s a bigger influx.
“We’re just catching the overflow traffic from that airport. And so we just have to wait and see, see what happens. But we’re capable of handling a large number of passengers going through our airport. So just a matter of time as they come in and have a ticket,” Gabriel Gonzales, Harlingen City Manager said.
With Title 42 ending Thursday night, both the city and the airport say they are preparing in case of an increased number of migrants.
