Church volunteers say they are overwhelmed, as more migrants are dropped off by ICE in Phoenix

PHOENIX (FOX 10) -- ICE has dropped off another busload of migrants at the corner where the Greyhound bus station is located in Phoenix.

Greyhound no longer allows them to wait inside their terminal without a ticket, so hundreds of children and families sat outside in the parking lot.

It's something the Valley has seen on a regular basis. Some migrants had tickets to leave town right away, but many others were taken to Valley churches, as they wait for sponsors to make travel arrangements for them. Now, churches are begging city and county officials to help them keep families off the streets.

Since Saturday, nearly a thousand migrants have been dropped off by ICE. Church volunteer Magdalena helps organize the chaos. As volunteers arrive in cars, she directs them on where to drive the transients. Churches have been taking families in, but space is running out.

Magdalena says she's worried.

"Especially with the children, especially with children," said Magdalena. "We cannot see these children sleep in the street tonight."

The office of Phoenix mayor Thelda Williams says the city does not have an obligation to shelter the migrants. Officials say they are very concerned, but so far, it's all talk and no action. Meanwhile, the buses keep coming, leaving migrants to fend for themselves.

"We came in trains, cars, bus," said one male migrant, via a translator. The man said he left his country to escape violence, oppression, and extortion. He and his son hitched rides from Guatemala to the U.S. border and said they were constantly threatened and assaulted along the way, even robbed of all their belongings. He would not want his wife and another son in Guatemala to make the same journey.

"It's very dangerous," said the man.

Thousands of migrants have also been dropped off by ICE in El Paso and San Diego. Leaders in San Diego recently voted to open a new migrant shelter that will temporarily house people until their bus or plane leaves to take them to their sponsor families. Local volunteers want Phoenix officials to do something similar.