The US Border Patrol granted parole to more than 207,000 migrants who crossed the border from Mexico from August through May.In the previous seven months, he had only paroled 11.The warehouse in a busy strip of auto repair shops and convenience stores draws little attention from passersby.Inside, hundreds of migrants are eating, charging phones and using temporary toilets and showers.Within a few hours, a security guard escorts them to a gravel lot out front, where commercial buses take them from the remote Texas town of Eagle Pass to San Antonio International Airport for $40.The Border Patrol releases up to 1,000 migrants daily at Mission: Border Hope.The nonprofit group outgrown a church and moved into the warehouse in April amid the Biden administration's rapidly expanding practice of releasing immigrants on parole, particularly those not subject to parole. a pandemic rule that prevents immigrants from seeking asylum.The Border Patrol granted parole to more than 207,000 migrants who crossed from Mexico from August through May, including 51,132 in May, a 28% increase from April, according to court records.In the previous seven months, he only gave parole to 11 immigrants.Parole protects immigrants from deportation for a set period of time, but offers little else.By law, the Department of Homeland Security can parole immigrants into the United States “only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or a significant public benefit.”Parolees can apply for asylum within a year.The Border Patrol resorted to parole because it lacks detention space, according to court documents.It's a quiet but far-reaching change from the first months in office of President Joe Biden and his immediate predecessors, Donald Trump and Barack Obama.When agents couldn't process the migrants quickly enough to appear in court last year, thousands languished in custody under a bridge in Texas' Rio Grande Valley.In 2019, the cells were so crowded that some migrants had to stand on toilets.Migrants released from the warehouse are told to report to immigration authorities within two months at their final destination in the US.A wearable device tracks his movements.“The treatment (by the US authorities) was good compared to other countries,” said Anthony Montilla, 27, from Venezuela."They didn't treat us like we were thieves."He arrived with his family after a trip that included walking through Panama's notorious Darién Gap, where bandits have raped girls in front of their parents and corpses lie on the jungle floor.After Border Patrol released the family on two months of probation, they headed to a friend's home in Washington, D.C.José Castillo, 43, arrived from Nicaragua with his wife and his 14-year-old son, after overcoming the fear of drowning in the Rio Grande.They were headed to Miami to live with a cousin.They say that opposition to the Nicaraguan government made them a target of repression.Castillo's day in Border Patrol custody was "easy," he said, but he would advise others not to make the trip because of the dangers of starvation or kidnapping in Mexico.Mission: Border Hope, which is supported by the United Methodist Church, operates in an area that now rivals the Rio Grande Valley as the busiest corridor for illegal crossings.Their services are modest compared to groups in other border cities that provide lodging and transportation to an airport.It started in 2000 serving 25 to 50 immigrants a week at a previous location, said Valeria Wheeler, executive director, who oversees operations with the efficiency of an assembly line.On the busiest days, volunteers can't keep up as they check in migrants, buy bus tickets and handle other logistics, Wheeler said.A typical day is 500 immigrants, but arrivals sometimes reach 1,000.Boxes of spaghetti sauce, chicken and pork soup and beans are stacked near a makeshift kitchen.The migrants wait in groups of metal benches and plastic chairs.A voice over a loudspeaker gives directions to people being dropped off on Border Patrol buses and announces when airport-bound commercial buses arrive for ticketed passengers.The facility encourages migrants to leave quickly to make room for others, but about one in 10 ends up sleeping on the concrete floor because he has nowhere to go.“We're not set up to be a shelter,” Wheeler, a former paralegal, said as she walked through the windowless building, often interrupted by migrants with questions.Parolees say they were not screened for asylum or even asked why they came to the US.They receive a package stapled with a blue stamp that says when the parole expires.That contrasts with many others who are removed without the opportunity to seek asylum under the authority of Title 42, which denies migrants the opportunity for asylum on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.A federal judge recently ordered that it remain in place, despite objections from the Biden administration.Title 42 has been unevenly applied, greatly affecting migrants from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador because Mexico agreed to accept them.The head of the Border Patrol's parent agency says migrants eligible for parole have their criminal records checked and typically arrive at families with an address where they will stay in the United States."We're trying to be smart about it, recognizing that there are people who have been carefully vetted but are at much lower risk and it would make sense to handle them differently than others," Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus said in a statement. interview.Critics say the parole encourages more immigrants to come and the administration is defying the legal requirement that it be granted on a "case-by-case" basis.But Magnus said it's "much more efficient" and almost as effective as releasing them after Border Patrol agents prepare notices to appear in immigration court. That time-consuming exercise now falls to immigration officers. and Customs Control when migrants appear before them when they arrive at their destinations.The Border Patrol still processes about 25,000 immigrants a month in immigration court, which agents say can take more than an hour each.Parole, by comparison, is processed in minutes.On a recent day, a Honduran woman who was about eight months pregnant was released with a notice to appear in immigration court in Cleveland, where she planned to live with an uncle.Wheeler said she doesn't know why some immigrants are processed through immigration court and others are on parole, and her organization doesn't ask.“Our purpose is to provide security,” she said.Connect with the Voice of America!Subscribe to our YouTube channel and activate notifications, or follow us on social networks: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.II special part of Border to Border