The 16,000 migrants passing through San Antonio came with a cost
by Anna Giaritelli
| June 23, 2019 07:00 AM
San Antonio's municipal government and nonprofit organizations have spent more than $600,000 assisting upwards of 16,000 migrants who showed up on their doorstep after being released from federal custody on the border since late March, and the city expects newcomers, including emigrants from Central Africa, to continue arriving in surges.
Until March, only the city's nonprofits were helping the average of 2,000 migrants arriving each month. By late March, the three local groups — Catholic Charities, Travis Park Church, and the San Antonio Food Bank — were struggling to house, feed, and care for the primarily Central American families. The number of migrants departing the border for San Antonio had tripled to upwards of 6,000 people per month.
City officials said most arrivals are coming from Eagle Pass and Del Rio, Texas, where federal authorities are apprehending a record number of asylum-seekers from Central Africa. Hundreds have been arriving in the United States each week seeking refuge from an outbreak of war in the region. Migrants must pay for their own bus or van tickets to get from the border towns to San Antonio, the closest major city.
The city jumped into action 11 weeks ago and declared itself the lead for all migrant assistance operations after recognizing nongovernmental organizations could not be the sole responders. Between then and June 14, 16,341 people passed through the migrant center downtown, including nearly 10,000 who stayed at least one night at Travis Park Church.
Every one of the city’s 35 departments has chipped in, lending 693 employees to spend time working at the migrant resource center. City employees have volunteered 11,487 hours of their own time there since late March, according to San Antonio Department of Human Services public relations manager Roland Martinez. The city would not provide how many hours the nearly 700 employees worked while on the clock.
The city and nonprofits spent more than $610,000 from March 30 through June 9. The biggest expense was bus and plane tickets for migrants to get to their final destinations.
“If ... it’s been 24 to 48 hours and they can’t buy the [bus] ticket, then we’ll buy it,” Elizabeth Nemeth, executive director of Catholic Charities' west side center, told the Washington Examiner during a visit to San Antonio last week. It costs about $2,000 for a family of five to seven looking to travel by bus to New York, she said.
While many Central American families have in mind final destinations, with family members who can pay for their tickets there and put them up, African families are less likely to arrive with clear plans, prompting them to stay in the city for longer periods.
Catholic Charities said it's bought as many as 300 tickets for African migrants in a week. Another 12 to 15 African families arrived in town last week. The group's San Antonio operations have cost $346,000 as of June 9, including $60,000 worth of services.
The San Antonio Food Bank’s expenditures topped $254,000, with $141,000 being goods “in kind.” Travis Park Church has spent $14,000.
The city has put $193,000 toward the $610,000 in total accrued costs, and nonprofits have picked up the remaining $413,000.
Martinez said the city is working with federal lawmakers and the Department of Homeland Security on ways for the federal government to reimburse the city and private organizations.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/n...me-with-a-cost
