Is Atlanta the next major city to feel the pressure placed on its resources by illegal migrants? Charities in Georgia say the surge in the number of illegal migrants and a lack of coordination to ensure they have somewhere to go has stretched their resources to their limits.

More than 1.8 million apprehensions along the southern border with Mexico have occurred during the first 10 months of fiscal year 2022. The Biden administration is allowing them to stay in the United States while they wait for their claims for asylum to be processed, mostly because it has stopped using Title 42 to immediately expel illegal migrants. Many of them are from countries that will not take them back. A large surge of Venezuelans is being seen along the border and Venezuela is one of those countries.

For example, in July, about 17,600 Venezuelans illegally crossed the southern border. That number is up from about 6,000 in July 2021. Only 51 of those Venezuelans were expelled under Title 42. Illegal migrants are being processed and vetted at the border and then they are free to go anywhere in the country.

Why are so many coming now? Because they can. Venezuela is a socialist hell hole. The people hear that it’s a done deal once they get to the United States. They know they’ll be allowed to stay. Joe Biden has been inviting them to this country since he campaigned for president. The message has been received loud and clear. One Venezuelan explained why he came to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Torres currently finds himself in a Roswell hotel, where a local nonprofit has temporarily housed him. He says he came to the country now because he perceived it to be an auspicious time to cross the border.

“I decided to come here to take advantage of the situation, where you can come in. It’s not easy, but [the border] could become more closed in the future,” he said. “I believe before it was more complicated, when it comes to being undocumented in this country.”

After spending two days in detention in Texas, Torres was released from government custody to lawfully await a hearing in immigration court. Like other migrants in his situation, he is required to periodically check in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He chose to travel to Atlanta because he had heard that jobs here were plentiful.

Local non-profits who are helping illegal migrants say this isn’t something that is happening because of migrant buses from Texas or Arizona dropping them off in Atlanta. This is happening because the illegal migrants are heading to areas they think will have housing available and jobs for them. As in other Democrat-led cities, there is no infrastructure in place to handle the people seeking housing and jobs. On “immigration advocate” says Atlanta is on the cusp of a crisis.

With no government support for asylum seekers, it is falling on immigrant advocates like Flores-Maisonet to ensure that newcomers’ basic needs are met, a task that is become more and more difficult to see through. Those who ask for asylum typically have to wait around, sometimes up to a year after their arrival, to receive work authorization that enables them to legally support themselves.

“Atlanta is on the cusp of a crisis,” Flores-Maisonet said. “Scores of vulnerable, unhoused people from a faraway land are arriving at our doorstep.”

Welcome to the party.

The advocate for illegal migrants went on to explain that the migrants are mostly coming from San Antonio. I’ve written about the fact that FEMA is working with the city to buy bus tickets for the illegal migrants and sending them on to wherever they want to go.

Flores-Maisonet, from Casa Alterna, says nearly all of the migrants arriving to Atlanta are coming through San Antonio, Texas, a city that is receiving as many as 800 migrants per day. Local San Antonio nonprofits are using funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to buy bus tickets to migrants’ chosen final destinations, including Atlanta. One such organization is Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of San Antonio. Its leader, J. Antonio Fernandez, told the AJC that while Catholic Charities tries to verify that there are available shelter beds in destination cities before paying for migrants’ transportation, staffers are unable to perform that assessment for every single individual.

Immigrant advocates in Atlanta say better coordination is needed between local governments and local nonprofits to provide a suitable humanitarian response to the influx of destitute asylum seekers.

“The problem really isn’t that there are immigrants coming here. Especially for us, we don’t see that as a problem. The real problem is that there’s a lack of resources, and that there’s no plan, no interagency coordination,” Román-Hernández said.

Notice that those advocating for illegal migration are putting the responsibility on local communities and nonprofits, not on the federal government that is responsible to provide the resources needed to handle the Biden border crisis. It is a problem that millions of illegal migrants are flooding into border towns and cities. There is overcrowding and suffering brought to local areas not able to accommodate the overload. That is the point of the migrant buses that Democrat mayors in sanctuary cities are complaining about – to bring attention to the Biden border crisis. There are cities across the country who have virtue-signaled about how compassionate they are and inclusive, gladly accepting illegal migrants, until they actually have to deal with them. Suddenly those sanctuary cities have no means to provide for those they claim to welcome.

Perhaps Atlanta will be the next city to receive migrant buses from Governor Abbott or Governor Ducey. FEMA is sending them there. Wouldn’t it be nice if FEMA worked with the border states as it works with one specific Texas city?