By Catherine E. Shoichet and Will Lanzoni, CNN
As a growing number of migrants arrive in the border city of El Paso, Texas, officials there say the situation is "unsustainable" and could intensify into a full-blown crisis.
Images over the past few weeks show large groups of people crossing the Rio Grande, long lines of migrants waiting to turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents, and overcrowded shelters on the US side of the border. The increase in crossings came before the scheduled end of Title 42, a policy that officials have been relying on to kick many migrants out of the United States. The Supreme Court now says that policy will remain in effect while legal challenges play out.
Many of the arriving migrants have told reporters they're from Nicaragua. Some have said they were victims of kidnapping before making it to the border.
El Paso Times reporter Lauren Villagran told CNN that she spoke with Nicaraguan migrants waiting outside in frigid temperatures.
"People are very, very cold. ... It's definitely a humanitarian crisis right now," she said.
Blake Barrow, chief executive director of Rescue Mission of El Paso, said the need is greater than anything he's seen in 25 years running the homeless shelter.
"I've never seen anything like this. ... We were not built for this type of a situation," Barrow told CNN. "But we have all these people in need in front of us, and we're doing everything we can."
Deputy City Manager Mario D'Agostino told reporters that the situation is different than past surges of migrants across the border.
Before, he said, increases in migrant populations crossing the border were gradual and over a series of months. This time, he said, it has been rapid and over a few days.
"Our infrastructure cannot keep up," he said.
The Department of Homeland Security says it's deployed additional agents to the region, claiming that criminal smuggling organizations are behind the influx.
CNN's Rosa Flores, Andi Babineau, Ed Lavandera, Ana Cabrera and Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.
