EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – The City of El Paso has extended an emergency ordinance allowing the use of municipal resources to deal with mass migration through the city.
The City Council, during its Monday work session, approved related items, ratifying a contract with a migrant-services provider and payments to several vendors.
Council also reviewed the balance of federal money made available by the Biden administration to deal with humanitarian and public safety crises brought about by on-again, off-again mass migration El Paso has experienced in the past four years. Some of the funding expires on December 31.
City officials voted unanimously for the three items even as migrant encounters plummet and concern increases federal aid for migrants might dry up when President-elect Trump takes office on January 20.
“I don’t see the funding available going forward whatsoever, so we need to make sure we get everything reimbursed, or we submit everything and make sure we don’t end up with a shortfall,” Mayor Oscar Leeser said.
The city stepped in after U.S. Customs and Border Protection released hundreds of migrants onto the streets of El Paso as nonprofit shelters reached capacity or did not have sufficient resources.
In the past two years, the Biden administration has made $39.15 million available to El Paso for emergency food and shelter programs. A total of $13.83 millions remains available for reimbursement, said Nicole Cote, managing director of purchasing and strategic sourcing.
“This funding will sunset this calendar year on December 31. We asked if we could extend it, but it was declined late last week,” she told the council.
Border Servant Corps is the provider whose services agreement the council ratified on Monday. The group says on its website it has served 148,436 asylum seekers since 2021 through shelter, travel arrangements assistance, help with finding sponsors, and employment authorization. A quarter of its clients are Venezuelans, with Cubans, Colombians, and Mexicans comprising another 32 percent.
Council ratified expenses with at least ten other companies, including $2 million with shelter manager Family Endeavors Inc., $672,560 with G. Sandoval Construction, and $559,855 with Universal Protection Services L.P.
The contracts run from May 1, 2023, through December 31, 2024.
Leeser has repeatedly said the federal government reimbursed or pledged to reimburse the city so that El Paso taxpayers are not left in the lurch for migrant expenses.
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