NPR

African Migrants Are Becoming A New Face Of The U.S. Border Crisis

The crisis on the Southern border has been driven by a surge of migrants from Central America. But hundreds of African migrants have crossed the border in recent weeks, many to seek asylum.
A woman waits in line with her child outside the migrant processing center in San Antonio.

Filipe and Mireille took their four young children and fled violent militias and civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo nearly five months ago.

They flew to Ecuador, then traveled on foot across Central America to reach the U.S.-Mexico border, where they waited for weeks in a long line of asylum seekers before being allowed to cross and make the last leg of their journey.

Finally, they reached their destination: A makeshift emergency shelter in Portland, Maine — a converted minor-league sports arena now filled with cots. Filipe describes it as "paradise."

"I was thinking ... what could I wish for in life? And this is what I wish for," Felipe says through a translator. He and his wife did not want to

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