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San Antonio's Migrant Resource Center to shut down as a result of fewer migrants, city officials say

San Antonio's 'Centro de Bienvenida' on Monday, February 3, 2025, the day the City of San Antonio said it was ending its operations.
Saile Aranda
/
TPR
San Antonio's 'Centro de Bienvenida' on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, the day the City of San Antonio said it would close the facility.

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The city opened the Migrant Resource Center/Centro de Bienvenida (MRC) facility in partnership with Catholic Charities in 2022 to be used to temporarily shelter migrants who surrendered to immigration authorities at the border and moved through San Antonio en route to their final destinations.

But now, the federally funded MRC will no longer take in any new migrants starting on Monday, City Manager Erik Walsh said.

The decision to phase out the MRC came amidst a wave of new federal immigration policies, including the ending of legal protections for migrants from Venezuela, promises of a widespread deportation crackdown, and threats from the federal government to revoke funding from so-called “sanctuary cities” across the country.

Sanctuary cities are commonly known as those whose law enforcement agencies refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities on immigration enforcement actions.

The San Antonio City Council has never approved such a policy, and the San Antonio Police Department said in recent days that its officers fully cooperate with federal immigration officials to the extent of the law.

The Trump administration has not yet reached out to San Antonio police with any deportation requests.

Walsh said the city’s decision to shut down the MRC had nothing to with pressure from the federal government, but was instead the result of how few people came through its doors in recent months.

“We’ve seen a marked decrease of individuals transiting through San Antonio,” he said. “And I think we’ve seen about an average of 12 for the last week per day.”

He said the city had not been contacted by federal officials about any funding threats.

The city and Catholic Charities, which operates the MRC, and other partners still had millions in federal funds to keep the MRC running.

As recently as last week, Catholic Charities Executive Director Antonio Fernandez said he was keeping a close eye on federal immigration policy but that he planned to continue operating and treating with dignity any migrants who came to the MRC.

But Walsh said it made no financial sense to keep open a 700-bed facility that currently only shelters 88 people.

“The Migrant Resource Center was opened up at a time when we were getting hundreds of people through San Antonio, and we always knew that we would reach the point where it was no longer needed,” he said.

City Manager Erik Walsh speaking to reporters about the decision to close the Migrant Resource Center.
Josh Peck
/
TPR
City Manager Erik Walsh speaking to reporters about the decision to close the Migrant Resource Center.

Walsh said an SAPD presence will remain at the facility until the migrants there move out. He added that the city would end its 10-year lease for the San Pedro Avenue building once it’s emptied.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg released a statement that echoed Walsh’s comments about the decision following the announcement.

“Circumstances surrounding both asylum claims and border entries have yielded a drastic reduction in the number of asylum seekers arriving at the MRC,” he said in a statement. “As our facilities were designed to manage a much larger inflow of individuals, we continue to seek federal reimbursement for over $12 million, and in consultation with our partner agencies, we have begun to phase out the operations of the MRC.”

City officials said the Interfaith Welcome Coalition would continue to staff the San Antonio International Airport and Greyhound bus station downtown for the few migrants who continue to travel through San Antonio.

“San Antonio remains a compassionate community which will continue to work with our partner agencies to meet any additional migrant arrivals with care,” Nirenberg said in his statement.

Catholic Charities did not respond to TPR’s request for comment.

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