Fifty-seven asylum seekers — men, women and children from Guatemala, Brazil, India and Guinea — climbed off a bus at the Welcome Center one recent morning. The former school in Phoenix has expanded over the past four years into one of the busiest and most sophisticated migrant shelters along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Since the once-vacant building reopened in 2019 as a migrant shelter, more than 105,000 asylum seekers from 84 countries have passed through the same glass doors students entered.
The staggering number, including some 16,000 so far this year, reflects the record number of migrants arriving at the southern U.S. border in recent years seeking asylum.
Asylum seekers are often released in cities and towns in Arizona and other border states by federal immigration and border authorities. The releases are due to overcrowded Border Patrol facilities, a lack of detention space, legal agreements to protect children and laws that give people fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries the right to seek asylum in the U.S.
