U.S. Reps. Joaquin Castro and Greg Casar announced earlier this month that they helped San Antonio’s Migrant Resource Center secure $38 million in funding. Credit: Sanford Nowlin

San Antonio’s Migrant Resource Center next year will be unable to afford plane and bus tickets for those staying at the shelter, and that means migrants could be stuck here for longer periods of time, according to the San Antonio Report.

City officials are requesting additional outside funding for the center, located in a former CPS Energy building on the North Side. However, the federal government has yet to pass a fiscal 2024 budget, leaving that monetary source in limbo.

Antonio Fernandez, CEO of Catholic Charities, the organization that operates the Migrant Resource Center, expects $5 million in additional funding to be made available Jan. 1 by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), according to the Report.

However, that won’t go far, according to Fernandez. His organization has run through $1 million monthly to buy plane and bus tickets for migrants looking to leave San Antonio.

Over the past 30 days, the Migrant Resource Center has housed some 1,000 migrants daily. Most only stay 24 to 48 hours before jumping on buses or planes to other locations, Fernandez told the Report.

Without funds to purchase those tickets, Fernandez told the Report that Alamo City residents should be prepared for “thousands of people on the streets.”

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This article appears in Dec 13-26, 2023.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...