Border Crisis in San Antonio, 12-18-2023
How is the Border Crisis Impacting San Antonio?
Migrant Center Costs
According to the City of San Antonio records, $9.3 million was spent to operate the Migrant Resource Center from January through the end of October this year. That figure includes staffing, transportation, and the cost of cleaning and maintaining the facility.
The city also spent $728,000 on plane and bus tickets for the transportation of illegal aliens to their destinations across the nation. However, the city says it stopped paying for travel, and Catholic Charities, the main federally funded nonprofit involved, manages day-to-day operations at the Center.
The city claims taxpayers are not paying for any costs at the Center because the federal government is paying for it. However, they must not know where the federal, state, and local governments get their money.
The “Secret” Airport Shelter
The City of San Antonio says the migrant facility it has been operating at the airport for roughly seven months is neither a shelter nor a secret. However, the city still hasn’t been able to point out when it mentioned it publicly.
Citizen journalists, including El Conservador, discovered the “Airport Transfer Center” (ATC) several months ago, and The Daily Mail reported on Dec. 7. The Mail characterized it as a “secret migrant camp,” which upset SA City Manager Erik Walsh. He said he was “offended” by the notion the ATC was a secret or that the city was hiding people.
However, until now, the city has never publicly acknowledged its existence.
Dangerous Foreign Criminals are Crossing the Border Daily
While cities across the nation, including San Antonio, restrain, undermine, and discourage local law enforcement, dozens of illegal aliens with “serious criminal histories” are being stopped by Border Patrol agents daily at the southern border. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens said that, on average, in 2023, agents arrested more than 47 people with “serious criminal histories” daily.
For FY 2023, 12,267 “criminal noncitizens” were caught, compared to 12,028 in FY 2022, 10,763 in FY22, and 2,438 in FY20. Two illegal aliens were recently stopped in Eagle Pass, TX, including one who had a murder charge and one who was a member of a drug trafficking organization with an active warrant.
Because of the chaos at the border, many criminal illegal aliens are undoubtedly not being caught. Citizens in San Antonio, which has an active Migrant Center, should demand that local law enforcement check the illegal aliens in the area.
Don’t we have enough crime without importing more? Citizens must demand protection from illegal alien criminals.
Dangerous Venezuelan Gang in San Antonio
San Antonio police have received information that a Venezuelan gang called “El Tren de Aragua” (Aragua Train) is now operating in the city. Immigrants at the Migrant Center have told police that “the gang is here, and we need to be careful.”
The Aragua Train is an organization that began as a construction union for an unfinished construction site in Venezuela in 2009. It now has extended its influence into Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and Panama. It has also appeared in New York City and Chicago, where large numbers of Venezuelans have settled—and where local police are limited and defunded.
Among the crimes the Aragua Train is accused of are extortion, contract killings, and drug trafficking. However, they are also involved in sports activities involving the contracts of major league Venezuelan baseball players in the United States.
Of their criminal activities, human trafficking and sexual exploitation are the most profitable, which makes the illegal aliens perfect for criminal activities. San Antonio can become an operating hub with the Migrant Center.
SA city leaders need to protect their citizens above and beyond the humanitarian assistance for illegal aliens. It must support state and local law enforcement in identifying and removing dangerous criminal illegal aliens.
Border Crisis Meets Defund the Police
It has been reported that the city does not have enough money or security to deal with the overwhelming number of illegal aliens at the Migrant Center, and this is creating a public safety issue for neighborhood residents. There are only six San Antonio police officers per shift at the Center, plus the employees inside working with the migrants are understaffed. This is leading to employee burnout inside and outside.
The San Antonio Police Department has a severe shortage of officers and is having trouble recruiting officers for a career that is disparaged and undermined by liberal politicians, leftist community leaders, and the Fake News. The influx of unvetted illegal aliens, some of whom may be criminals or terrorists, endangers citizens and public safety in general.