Illegal immigration has been on the rise and Texas has faced the brunt of the rising number of undocumented immigrants. However, despite having sufficient border patrol officers to apprehend them, the state lacks the facilities to keep them captive until extradition.

Instead of keeping them in Texas, immigration officials decided to fly 400 undocumented immigrants to neighboring Arizona and released them at bus stations in Tucson and Phoenix, according to Reuters. In the past month, the rising number of migrants has been too much for the state to handle thus they released them in Arizona, where they were instructed to report to an immigration facility within 15 days.

Those who cross the border illegally and are from Mexico are simply turned around by U.S. Border Patrol, but those from Central American nations need to flow back to their respective home countries. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has now become the target from both sides of the political spectrum because of this decision.

"Essentially, they have gotten successfully into the country and it's unlikely that they're going to leave," said Ian Mehlman from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that seeks to curb immigration.

However, ICE's decision to simply drop migrants at bus stops could turn into a humanitarian crisis. According to The Republic, immigrant advocate groups have begun to help the immigrants stranded.

"It's not safe healthwise and we are concerned for their physical safety," said Cyndi Whitmore, a volunteer with the Phoenix Restoration Project, an advocacy group. The majority of people being dropped off at the bus stations are women with children, instead of the adult men and women, which had been the case previously.

"Some of the kids were crying," Whitmore said. "Some were infants that weren't fully clothed. They didn't have diapers. They didn't have formula."

Volunteers have begun providing the immigrants with necessities like food and diapers. In some cases, The Republic reports, volunteers are providing immigrants with bus tickets so they can stay with family in other cities. Regardless, the government's continued inaction on the topic now has spilled over unto another state, affecting both migrants and locals.