Chicago alderman visiting Texas border calls for federal funding to support migrant operations locally

SAN ANTONIO - Before being bused to major cities like New York and Chicago, thousands of migrants pass through San Antonio, often spending days in shelters costing the city tens of millions of dollars — and like Chicago, leaders in Texas found themselves struggling to meet the massive financial burden of caring for asylum seekers.

On Thursday, 6th Ward Alderman William Hall, visiting with the Chicago delegation, asked San Antonio’s mayor how they’re managing.

"I asked him, how are you paying for this. He looked me dead in the face and he said FEMA," Hall said.

That’s right, FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which steps in after disaster strikes, has given the city of San Antonio tens of millions of dollars explicitly for the housing and care of migrants. Hall says government aid is not only helpful, it’s imperative given how our country handles asylum seekers at the border.

"They take everything from you, they give you basic clothing, they make you take a shower, you sit in a holding cell until you clear security. At that point the governor has his buses waiting for them to walk through a barbed wire fence and he tells them nothing," Hall said.

Alderman Hall was touring a basecamp facility when he came to realize that the government is actually helping to direct migrants here to Chicago.

"I saw it for myself, basecamps that are operated by border security. Homeland security right there at the border in El Paso. A big old circle of Chicago. I asked the officer right there, why is Chicago circled on your board? He said to me, this is where people see the best opportunity."

Soon to return to Chicago, Alderman Hall is now more convinced than ever that the solution to the skyrocketing costs of sheltering migrants here should come from one place and one place only.

"If the President of the United States can write over $10 billion in funding for a war, then he can write clearly a check for $300 million to level our budget to deal with this crisis," he said.