In early summer members of local faith-based organizations in Laredo, Texas didn't have a formal group or a plan. They heard that the bus station in the U.S. border city was filling up with Central American migrants, so they took food and hygiene products to them. They saw that no one else was helping.
The volunteers then formed the Laredo Humanitarian Relief Team after their mayor told local media that his city wouldn't use taxpayer money to deal with the influx of undocumented immigrants.
Relief Team Forms on Border When Public Funds Fall Short
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A woman raises a battery-powered candle during an August vigil for migrants along the Rio Grande, the river that divides the U.S. and Mexico in Laredo, Texas, Aug. 12, 2014. (VOA / V. Macchi)