‘At capacity’: Community organizations that help asylum seekers stretched thin

CHARLOTTE — The Biden administration is rolling out asylum restrictions hours before Title 42 expires.

The plan includes denying asylum to those who show up at the U.S.-Mexico border without first applying online or seeking protection in a country they passed through. The White House also plans to open 100 regional migration hubs across the Western Hemisphere.

Channel 9′s Dan Matics learned there will be hubs in Guatemala and Colombia, but it’s not clear where the rest will be.

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Title 42 was a COVID-era policy that allowed border officials to turn migrants away. But several local community organizations that help people seeking asylum say they are already stretched thin. They told Matics they’re expecting even more of an influx if Title 42 expires Thursday.

The organizations’ message to migrants Wednesday was very clear -- unless you have family or ties here, legally speaking, the Carolinas are one of the worst places to come.

International House, the Latin American Coalition and legal advocates all help migrants and new immigrants in Charlotte. On Wednesday, they stepped up to the podium and said they can’t keep up.

“We are already at capacity,” said Jamilah Espinosa with Espinosa Law.

“We need more resources,” Espinosa said. “We don’t have the housing or the food to support.”

José Hernández-Paris is with the Latin American Coalition and said they are running out of housing.

“The shelter is full,” Hernández-Paris said in Wednesday’s news conference.

“We had a family that came yesterday, a three-member family and we ended up paying for a hotel room three nights, from our own resources that we don’t have, to make sure they are no longer on the streets,” he said.

The Department of Homeland Security said on Tuesday alone, 11,000 migrants crossed the border into the U.S. The situation is only expected to worsen if Title 42 ends Thursday. The policy required many asylum seekers to wait in Mexico. If it expires, more immigrants are expected to head to the Carolinas -- specifically to Charlotte, which has the region’s only immigration court.

Espinosa is an immigration attorney.

“So if you live in North or South Carolina, you have to come to Charlotte to have your case heard,” she explained.

Espinosa said the court has only four judges working more than 70,000 immigration cases. She said migrants are denied asylum here 95% of the time, which is one of the highest rates compared to other regions.

Unlike other states, North Carolina doesn’t offer health or work benefits to migrants. She said that’s why those seeking asylum should rethink the Carolinas.

“If they don’t have ties, if they don’t have stability, they won’t have work authorization for some time,” she said.

Once they are denied, migrants are often stuck here without health or work benefits while they wait to appeal, assuming they can get a court date within a year.

The groups Matics spoke with Wednesday said they are still working with Mecklenburg County to prepare for more migrants to arrive.

(WATCH RELATED: Title 42: What you need to know)

Title 42: What you need to know (NCD)

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