Plumbing 
Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office
A group of immigrants at the Uvalde Border Patrol Station wait in the parking lot to board a Southwest Area Regional Transit bus headed to San Antonio. Adult immigrants, male and female, are scheduled to be released in Uvalde twice a day, in the morning and afternoon, for an unknown length of time. The first group, in the photo, left Uvalde around 8 a.m. Wednesday. Per federal regulations, the people have legal status to be in the U.S. until a future immigration court date.
Between 120-150 immigrants are scheduled to be released daily at the Uvalde Border Patrol Station and offered a bus ride to San Antonio.
“We’re going to have to do this seven days a week now, not Monday through Friday,” Uvalde Mayor DonMcLaughlin Jr. said of the process that began yesterday.
According to McLaughlin, federal officials chose Uvalde because the city has a bus stop. Initially, immigrant release was set to begin Tuesday at Stripes, which is a bus stop on the Greyhound line.
“The people of Uvalde have a great heart, they are willing to come out and help people, no question about that. But we don’t have the resources to do this. If they start dropping 150 people at Stripes every day, those people don’t want to be in Uvalde, I agree, but they are going to migrate into town, they are going to migrate into neighborhoods,” McLaughlin said.
He expressed concern about not knowing who the people being released are, as well as the potential for crime if they were to be stuck in town, desperate and hungry. Per federal regulations, the people have legal status to be in the U.S. until a future immigration court date but they are not legally allowed to work.
McLaughlin and Uvalde Police Chief Daniel Rodriguez said about 30 to 40 immigrants are typically seen in Uvalde daily, but the groups will include people found in Brackettville, which he said will add another 90 to 120 people.
McLaughlin said after speaking to the Uvalde Border Patrol Station chief, it was arranged that the releases, set to occur around 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily, would be done at the Uvalde Station on Lou Stroup Drive. There, a city and county funded Southwest Area Regional Transit District bus would be waiting to transport anyone who wished to ride to San Antonio.
Asked why immigrants are once again being released in Uvalde after a nearly three-year pause, McLaughlin said overwhelming numbers of people likely led to the decision.
“I think it’s two-pronged, one they are overwhelmed, and we’re a dumping area, they can just dump them, out of sight, out of mind,” McLaughlin said. He stated that after consulting with city attorney Paul Tarski, the city is considering filing suit against the federal government.
“We do have grounds to submit for a lawsuit in federal court from a public health standpoint, because we don’t have the facilities here. And they’re not – there’s no– we don’t know what’s coming in, as far as health screening, diseases, COVID-19, affecting public health here and safety,” McLaughlin said. He noted the city has a clause in its ongoing disaster declaration requiring immigrants to provide proof of vaccination and take a COVID-19 test within 24 hours spent in the city.
“I think it’s ludicrous that the federal government would put us in this position. And I think that we’re gonna have to stand up.”
Transportation plans
McLaughlin and Uvalde County Judge Bill Mitchell both stated the city and county do not have the resources to provide for these individuals.
“We will make every effort to move them out of here using the SWART contract we do have in force,” Mitchell said. “We’re not set up for them.”
Busing them to a larger city like San Antonio, with more resources and that serves as a transportation hub, is intended to benefit locals and immigrants.
The city has an interlocal agreement in place, and the county renewed in June of last year an agreement with Southwest Area Regional Transit District for transport. Per the June 2021 transportation agreement, the cost per vehicle round trip was set at $278 Monday through Friday. Saturday service cost is higher, at $337, and Sunday and holiday transport costs $373.
McLaughlin said the Uvalde Ministerial Alliance is applying for federal status as a non-governmental organization, in hopes of obtaining funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for future transportation costs.
“So, they are going to apply, and [if approved] they will be given the funds to hire buses and people to take these people out of Uvalde, supposedly, from FEMA,” McLaughlin said, though he said it is uncertain how long the process of federal fund approval might take.
The situation is similar to that seen for several weeks in 2019, though at that time family groups, not individuals, were being transported.
The U.S. Border Patrol began releasing people in the community on May 23, 2019.
The total cost shared by the city and county at that time was $2,282. After that, a private bus company out of Eagle Pass, Aguila Express, was set to charge immigrants $40 per person in bus fare, which they would be responsible for out of their own pocket.