While thousands of migrants wait at the Texas border praying to be processed by immigration authorities, there are many being granted asylum across the country, including in the Hudson Valley.
Nurse Marlyn Lestage-LeForest, of Spring Valley, is in Texas assisting families granted asylum.
“Some of them came from Chile, some from Brazil, there are people from all over the world actually,” she says.
The National Haitian American Elected Officials Network criticized the deportation and treatment of Haitian migrants at the border, but confirmed families are being sent across the country, including in New York.
Konbit Neg Lakay is a Haitian community center in Spring Valley. Volunteers there say migrants having been trickling into the area every day.
In fact, the center says it’s helped over 200 of migrants settle in since August.
Renold Julien, the executive director of Konbit Neg Lakay, says the migrants coming for help aren’t just Haitian, but from all over South and Central America.
“A lot of people are crossing the border and coming to Rockland County— we need a plan,” he says.
While the problem is worse now, experts say it’s been going on for years.
“This isn't news to people paying attention, what made it news was the unavoidable pictures of 10-15,000 people in a shanty town,” says Mark Krikorian, of the Center for Immigration Studies.
Many migrants only have volunteers as their resource to rebuild once they are over the border.
"I'm glad people are noticing,” Julien says. “It’s inhumane.”