Immigration officials are holding off on any further plans for handling throngs of Central Americans caught sneaking into the United States, a day after protesters blocked busloads of migrant families sent to a processing center in California, according to The Associated Press.
The immigrant children and their parents are part of a wave of families and unaccompanied minors fleeing Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras and streaming by the thousands over the U.S.-Mexico border via human smuggling rings, the AP reported.
Most have shown up in Texas, overwhelming detention and processing facilities there and leading immigration authorities to set up overflow sites in California to help screen and manage the influx, according to the AP.
Immigration officials said most of the families headed for California were likely to be released under limited supervision to await deportation proceedings, and would likely be placed with relatives or friends in other cities or stay in temporary housing provided by charity groups, the AP reported.
Those arrangements sparked an outcry in Murrieta, California, north of San Diego, where an initial batch of immigrants were due to be processed at a Border Patrol station in town, according to the AP.
The mayor, Alan Long, raised concerns about public safety and potential strains on local resources, the AP reported. The first group of roughly 140 adults and children, all families, were flown from Texas by plane on Tuesday to San Diego and then bused north to Murrieta.
An angry crowd of about 150 protesters shouting, "Go home" and "We don't want you here," ignored police orders to disperse as they filled a street near the facility to block the van as it arrived, forcing the buses to turn around, according to the AP. The passengers ended up being bused to another Border Patrol station in San Diego for processing there.
