Mayor says reduction in asylum seekers ends need for MRC

Published on February 03, 2025

City continues seeking federal reimbursement.

SAN ANTONIO (February 3, 2025) — Mayor Ron Nirenberg on Monday issued the following statement regarding the City of San Antonio’s decision to phase out the Migrant Resource Center: 

“Since January 2021, San Antonio has assisted over 640,000 asylum seekers who were en route to their final destination and/or asylum court hearing.

“I want to thank the residents of San Antonio, Catholic Charities, the San Antonio Food Bank, the Interfaith Welcome Coalition, first responders, and all our City employees who addressed the influx of migrants with diligence and compassion.

“Though this crisis has been a result of decades of neglect at the federal level, we should be proud of our local response.

“Our three priorities with the Migrant Resource Center were to promote public safety, maintain order, and treat people humanely.

“Circumstances surrounding both asylum claims and border entries have yielded a drastic reduction in the number of asylum seekers arriving at the MRC. 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.

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