San Antonio could be getting another homeless shelter that's dedicated to migrants seeking asylum, Newsradio 1200 WOAI reports.
"I'm trying to get a task force together of different people and different faiths to see, do we need a bigger shelter?" Antonio Fernandez, head of Catholic Charities of San Antonio, says.
San Antonio has a large homeless shelter just west of downtown called the Haven For Hope. Fernandez says they don't accept migrants, so they feel like someone needs to step up.
Catholic Charities has been instrumental in meeting the need at the border, where migrant families have been claiming asylum in increasing numbers. They assisted countless families who were taken into custody thanks to President Trump's "zero tolerance" policy.
After being processed by federal immigration officials, most were released at the downtown San Antonio Greyhound station to fend for themselves.
Fernandez says this current migrant caravan from Honduras is not the first, and won’t be the last, so they need to be prepared to help migrants with meager means, deposited at our doorstep.
A shelter just for migrants, he says, is needed."Not just to eat and sleep, but a place where there's a smiling face," he explains.
"A place where they can get therapy or a lawyer to help them go through the paperwork."
But the project could attract controversy to San Antonio. Fernandez knows there will be some who will object, because they feel it's a magnet that would attract undocumented migrants.
"I'm sure many people will not be happy. I'm not here to judge people. I'm just here to help people in need."