The city of El Paso, Texas, expects to shell out $89 million to support illegal migrants over the course of one year, City Rep. Isabel Salcido said during a city council meeting Tuesday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has reimbursed $237,000 of the city’s expenses for migrant support and hopes to receive an additional reimbursement of $5.4 million, according to a presentation given to the council during Tuesday’s meeting. The agency will also provide a $2 million advance to the city.
“Hearing these numbers today, It’s clear to me, and I think we can all agree that this is not sustainable to the taxpayer. It isn’t,” Salcido said.
“You’re talking about $250,000 a day; if this goes on for another year, that’s like $89 million. And I know we’re getting refunded but we’re playing catch-up,” she added.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has encountered 1,656 illegal migrants per day on average in El Paso, according to the presentation. A large number of the encountered are Venezuelan migrants.
The reason so many Venezuelan migrants are crossing into the U.S. illegally in large numbers is due to a “perception” that they’ll be released into the country, according to a recent internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memorandum obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
In handling the influx, El Paso has chartered buses to send illegal migrants to the cities of their choosing, which include Chicago, New York City, Albuquerque, Denver and Dallas. The city has bused over 3,800 illegal migrants at a cost of around $1.8 million.
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