Trump administration releases people to shelters it threatened to prosecute for aiding migrants
May 23, 2025
The Trump administration has been releasing people charged with being in the country illegally to nongovernmental shelters along the U.S. border with Mexico after telling those organizations that providing migrants with temporary housing and other aid may violate a law used to prosecute smugglers. Border shelters have long provided lodging, meals and transportation to a bus station or airport. Many were rattled by a letter from the Federal Emergency Management Agency demanding information in a wide-ranging investigation into potential migrant smuggling. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has continued releasing people to at least four shelters in Texas and Arizona.
