AUSTIN, Texas — Southern border city El Paso has spent just shy of $10 million in taxpayer money responding to the border crisis and giving aid to the tens of thousands of immigrants released onto its streets this year.
Publicly available data on the city's Migrant Situational Awareness Dashboard website revealed that as of Dec. 22, El Paso had spent $9.87 million on housing, feeding, and busing immigrants who illegally crossed the border from Mexico and were released into the U.S. by federal law enforcement.Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 22, the city reported spending $4.5 million, according to the dashboard. In the previous three months, it spent $5.
The rising expenditures go hand in hand with how many immigrants have been arrested illegally entering the country in the El Paso region, only to be released out of federal custody and into the city. In November, more than 53,000 immigrants were apprehended in West Texas and New Mexico, which fall under Border Patrol's El Paso Sector. Last month's number is double the more than 26,000 in June, and it is ten times higher than the 5,000 apprehended in November 2019, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
The money spent responding to the thousands of immigrants released into the community each week has come out of the city's pocket.Last week, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency approved reimbursing El Paso $4.39 million in addition to the $6 million already approved by FEMA's Emergency Food and Shelter Program.
The $10.39 million in total reimbursements will carry the city through the end of the year as the costs in the final part of December have yet to be added to the $9.87 million.
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