The city opened the Migrant Resource Center/Centro de Bienvenida (MRC) facility in partnership with Catholic Charities in 2022 to be used to temporarily shelter migrants who surrendered to immigration authorities at the border and moved through San Antonio en route to their final destinations.
But now, the federally funded MRC will no longer take in any new migrants starting on Monday, City Manager Erik Walsh said.
The decision to phase out the MRC came amidst a wave of new federal immigration policies, including the ending of legal protections for migrants from Venezuela, promises of a widespread deportation crackdown, and threats from the federal government to revoke funding from so-called “sanctuary cities” across the country.
Sanctuary cities are commonly known as those whose law enforcement agencies refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities on immigration enforcement actions.
The San Antonio City Council has never approved such a policy, and the San Antonio Police Department said in recent days that its officers fully cooperate with federal immigration officials to the extent of the law.
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