City of El Paso

Offices of the City Council

September 21, 2022

The Honorable Oscar

Leeser Mayor
City of El Paso
300 N. Campbell
El Paso, TX 79901

Dear Mayor Leeser:

We are writing to urge you to issue a Disaster Declaration for the City of El Paso regarding the current
mass influx of migrants. With the unprecedented surge in migrants and compounding financial and
operational impact on our community and organization, we need to take this action now.
We have been briefed by City staff and have been following this paramount issue for many weeks now.
It is our understanding that the federal government is apprehending close to 2,000 people a day and
releasing about 1,000 per day to either NGOs, the City’s Welcome Center, or to the City’s streets and
neighborhoods.
It is time to declare a state of emergency in order to receive much-needed state and federal resources
that will be available via a Disaster Declaration. Our City has already spent more than $3,000,000 of El
Paso taxpayer funds to address this issue [up to $300,000 per day and growing], without being
reimbursed by the federal government in a timely manner. The City of El Paso is just now getting its
January 2022 invoices paid by the federal government. The City of El Paso’s invoices will be paid
quarterly, which is unacceptable since these are funds coming out of our general fund now. This is not
only unsustainable but simply unfair to our community. As our resources are strained to a breaking
point, our capacity to provide assistance to anyone, in a respectful and humane way is obviously and
very much impacted.
Likewise, our most fundamental responsibility is to ensure public safety. Without the resources, both
financial and logistical, that will be available via an emergency declaration, our ability to keep the City
of El Paso safe for residents and migrants alike is being put in serious jeopardy.
Thank you for your consideration.

City Representative Claudia L. Rodriguez

City Representative Isabel Salcido

City Representative Cissy Lizarraga