SAN ANTONIO – Though the number of asylum seekers has plummeted in the past two months, the City of San Antonio could end up leaving its Migrant Resource Center open through the end of the year.
The San Antonio City Council voted 10-0 on Thursday to allow city staff to seek another $6.5 million in federal reimbursement to cover the costs of the MRC on San Pedro from May through December. It’s not clear if the city will keep the MRC open that long, close it earlier, or maybe even keep it open even longer.
“As long as there’s a surge of migrants coming across the border, then we need to be prepared to help them and assist them to travel through San Antonio on the way to their destinations,” Human Services Director Melody Woosley said following the vote.
In the face of the “unprecedented” number of migrants, the City of San Antonio opened the MRC in early July 2022, though Catholic Charities has operated it since October 2022. Migrants who been processed by federal authorities at the border can get food, a temporary place to stay, and even help with travel arrangements.
However, the number of migrants has sharply fallen off, which the city attributes to changes in the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
The city is still waiting on the federal government to reimburse it for more than $9 million spent at the MRC between July and December 2022.