As asylum seekers are soon expected to wait in Mexico, the Good Neighbor Settlement House is now worried about migrants waiting on the streets of Matamoros instead. (Source: KGBT Photo)

As new temporary immigration courts are set to go up near the Gateway Bridge in Brownsville, city officials are expecting changes in how many migrants come in.

But one respite center director says they’ve already seen a slow-down.

The Good Neighbor Settlement House downtown sees 60 to 100 migrants come through its doors.

But as asylum seekers are soon expected to wait in Mexico, the respite center is now worried about migrants waiting on the streets of Matamoros instead.

Apprehended migrants from Brownsville to Roma will see an immigration judge through a screen right off the Gateway Bridge and will be sent back to Mexico to wait for their next immigration hearing.

“These poor people, they have waited on the Mexican side of the bridge weeks [or] months,” said Marianela Ramírez-Watson, director of the Good Neighbor Settlement House.

On Thursday, only a woman from Honduras and her child were at the respite center. Ramírez-Watson says she expects nearly no migrants to come once the courts are set-up.

“I totally believe an injunction will happen and all of this will be overturned,” Ramírez-Watson said.

She believes with lawsuits from organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union against U.S. immigration policy, hundreds of migrants will be coming back into her respite center.

Brownsville’s city manager said after meeting with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol in early July, the future immigration court tents will be up in less than 60 days, reducing overcrowding.

In the meantime, volunteers have been able to neatly organize all the clothes donated to them down to gender and size.

Since migrants are expected to wait in Matamoros after seeing an immigration judge, a city spokesperson says they have two public shelters on standby at the Mundo Nuevo Auditorium and the Sánchez public swimming pool.

Ramírez-Watson says she would have to meet with her board of directors to see if they can take more aid to migrants waiting at the bridge in Matamoros.

She says those are the same migrants that end up at the good neighbor settlement house.