Already though, many of the thousands of migrants crossing each day are being let in — of the record 234,088 migrants who arrived in April, nearly half were released into the country for various reasons, including humanitarian exceptions to the public health order and insufficient detention space. In some cases, the government cannot expel people — Cubans and Venezuelans, for example — because it has no diplomatic relations with the country of origin.

As the Biden administration sees about 8,200 border crossings a day — or nearly the population of College Station, Texas, entering the country every two weeks, far more than at this time last year — it is counting on small nonprofit organizations like La Posada Providencia to manage the influx into border cities and towns, helping to stave off politically explosive images of chaos and disorder ahead of the November midterms.

Some of the shelters, though, are becoming overwhelmed. So many migrants are crossing the border near El Paso that a shelter there is working with the city to quickly bring on more staff and add space. A shelter in Eagle Pass is also reaching its capacity and looking for ways to move migrants out of town faster.

“You’re going to see many, many individuals having to be released to the street,” Ruben Garcia, the director of the El Paso shelter, warned in a news conference last week.