Inside San Antonio airport's funding crisis for migrant shelter
Published: Tue, 12/19/23
Inside San Antonio airport's funding crisis for migrant shelter
For the first time, we take you inside the Airport Transit Center that the city opened up back in May. Congressman Henry Cuellar says he never knew about the center and that federal funding for migrants is running out.
(SBG)
FOXSA
by Mariza Mendoza
SAN ANTONIO - For the first time, we take you inside the Airport Transit Center that the city opened up back in May. Congressman Henry Cuellar says he never knew about the center and that federal funding for migrants is running out.
Congressman Cuellar says no future federal funding has been set aside yet for migrants. He says if something isn't approved early next year the city of San Antonio and Catholic charities will be forced to let these migrants out on the streets because the money will run out.
“The mayor and I talked, and catholic charities talked and we don’t want people to sleep on the streets,” says Congressman Cuellar.
But, Congressman Cuellar says that still may happen. He says Congress failed to pass legislation to fund any migrant program before the September 30th deadline. Right now, legislation is in continuing resolution or on hold.
"In January if we don’t add the money to it San Antonio has to do two things, they will one, they’ll start letting people out on the streets or two local taxpayers are going to be paying for these migrants,” says Congressman Cuellar.
Since the MRC opened in 2022, there have been several times it's been at and above capacity. During the summer many slept outside. Now you can see workers have put up a tent to provide more shelter for the influx of migrants.
And in May, the city of San Antonio opened up the Airport Transfer Center to support the Migrant Resource Center. This is a first look inside the ATC. This Facility is for ticketed migrants with a scheduled flight within 24 hours.
“We are in an emergency, we’ve had 580 thousand people come through San Antonio since January 21," says San Antonio City Manager Erik Walsh.
Walsh says upwards of 300 to 400 migrants were spending the night in airport terminals before the ATC opened this year. Their solution is to use a city-owned building at a monthly cost of about $260,000 to operate.
“All those resources, the logistics, the cleaning, the maintenance the security, the food all of that is being reimbursed wither through the city and/or catholic charities or the federal government," says Walsh.
“If we don’t come up with that FEMA money, we have to put the money in. San Antonio and Catholic Charities are going to run out of money," says Congressman Cuellar.
To see the current number of migrants in the city of San Antonio click here.