JUAREZ, Mexico (Border Report) – Church-run border shelters are preparing for the arrival of additional large groups of migrants from southern Mexico.

Several hundred foreign nationals have already set up camp behind a convenience store in Chihuahua City some 230 miles south of El Paso, Texas. And church leaders are expecting at least some of the 2,000 migrants who set off from Chiapas, Mexico, earlier this week to arrive in the El Paso-Juarez area in the coming days.

“We are in contact with people and personnel in migrant shelters in south Mexico. They say many people have come into the country recently and are being joined by others already there. And yes, they are coming to Juarez,” said the Rev. Francisco Bueno Guillen, director of Casa del Migrante shelter in Juarez.

The so-called Way of the Cross caravan is being organized by Mexican activists in Chiapas to ensure the safety of vulnerable people traversing a country where they are often taken advantage of by criminals and authorities. The migrants left the city of Tapachula on Monday. Organizers told Mexican media they’re going to Mexico City, but leaders can be heard on videos posted on social media yelling through a bullhorn, “A la frontera!” (To the border!).

“Migrants have no other option but to walk as part of a group or hitch a ride in a trailer that could be their death,” Luis Villagran, an organizer with the Center for Human Dignity in Tapachula, Mexico, told Telemundo.

Bueno acknowledged some in the caravan may end up in other border cities, such as Tijuana south of the San Diego area, or in Matamoros opposite South Texas. However, “For some time we have become an important destination for migrants. We are being told an important number (of migrants) would arrive in this city. We must be prepared,” he said.

Casa del Migrante has been filling up in recent days as families and single adults looking for an opportunity to seek asylum in the United States are again arriving in Juarez in large numbers. Bueno said the shelter went from being 20% full a couple of weeks ago to 75% capacity as of Monday.

The Kiki Romero municipal gym is also three-quarters full as of Wednesday, Juarez Human Rights Office Director Santiago Gonzalez told Mexican media.

Bueno said he’s been in contact with church officials in El Paso, as both cities are likely to feel the effects of a new migrant surge. “We are a single church. We are not isolated, we work together. They (El Paso) also have places to shelter migrants, they assist us,” he said.

El Paso Catholic Diocese Bishop Mark J. Seitz was in Juarez this week, showing solidarity with efforts to assist migrants.

“We continue to marshal all available resources and be aware of the trends,” Seitz told Border Report on Monday. “El Paso has shown itself to be very able to gear up when the surge comes and provide a safe and orderly way for those who have been permitted to come in to find a secure situation and continue on their path.”

Both church officials expressed regrets for altercations between migrants and members of the Texas Army National Guard last week on the U.S. banks of the Rio Grande south of El Paso.

Seitz said he does not condone violence on the part of civilians or authorities. But he said he understands the desperation of migrants stuck on the border.