ORDINANCE NO. 019647
AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE EXTENDING EMERGENCY ORDINANCE NO. 019333 AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ASSIGN PERSONNEL AND RESOURCES TO ASSIST IN ADDRESSING THE HUMANITARIAN AND PUBLIC SAFETY CRISIS RESULTING FROM A MASS MIGRATION THROUGH EL PASO
WHEREAS, on May 23, 2022, the Mayor and City Council of the City of El Paso (the “City”) passed an Emergency Ordinance No. 019333 “Authorizing the City Manager to Assign Personnel and Resources to Assist in Addressing the Humanitarian and Public Safety Crisis Resulting from a Mass Migration through the City of El Paso”; and
WHEREAS, the City finds that the expenditure of public funds for staff to coordinate resources and supplies, serve as shelter surge staff and transport migrants released in the City of El Paso accomplishes a valid public purpose of protecting public infrastructure, and protecting the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of El Paso; and
WHEREAS, in response to potential street releases and partly pursuant to Emergency Ordinance No. 019333, the El Paso City-County Office of Emergency Management (“OEM”) reallocated COVID-19 Operations staff to assist as migrant shelter surge staff and created a job specification, for general disaster operations to include humanitarian relief duties to hire and assign staff to assist with NGO capacity; and
WHEREAS, in the Fall of 2022, at least partly pursuant to the authority contained in Emergency Ordinance No. 019333, the City expended significant resources to create and staff a Welcome Center to assist with transportation assistance, providing long-distance charter services and over 39,000 meals to over 19,300 migrants through October 20, 2022; and
WHEREAS, the Director of Aviation has the authority, as granted by the El Paso City Council, to manage the day-to-day operations of the El Paso International Airport (“EPIA”) and to ensure that those operations are conducted in compliance with the rules and regulations regarding airports under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Chapter 22 of the Texas Transportation Code, and Title 14 of the El Paso City Code, as well as federal, state, and local health and safety regulations to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of all occupants and travelers making use of EPIA facilities; and
WHEREAS, from time to time during the migration waves, EPIA in recent past, has become saturated with migrants awaiting air travel and has needed to take measures to preserve the health and safety of its customers, employees and the public, as well as measures to secure its facilities as the demand for air travel increases exponentially; and
WHEREAS, the City of El Paso is home to four international ports of entry between Texas and Mexico; and
WHEREAS, at times during the pendency of Emergency Ordinance No. 019333, border officials have barricaded and closed down the Paso del Norte bridge due to a breach of public safety involving hundreds of migrants present on the bridge attributed to rumors about the relaxation of immigration restrictions circulated on social media sites, which has caused significant delays at the international ports-of-entry involving trade; and
WHEREAS, the encampment of large groups of migrants on City rights of way, parks and other City property at one point led to street closures and cessation of the streetcar service and reassignment of City staff required to ensure safety and sanitary conditions in that area; and
WHEREAS, in order to protect the health of persons in the municipality, the City Council wishes to continue to assist the local non-governmental organizations (“NGOs”) with surge staff, coordination of resources and supplies, and transportation in light of the continued high number of community releases; and
WHEREAS, the Biden administration ended the COVID-19 public health emergency on May 11, 2023 ending all use of Title 42 as a mechanism to control the border; and
WHEREAS, at that time and subsequent to that time, tens of thousands of migrants from Latin America and around the world gathered at or near the U.S.- Mexico border in hopes that President Biden would ease immigration restrictions that will make it easier to enter the United States; and
WHEREAS, the El Paso sector of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (“CBP”) had 482,095 land border encounters and over 174,000 community releases in the federal fiscal year 2023; and
WHEREAS, for federal fiscal year 2024, the Southwest had 1,520,502 migrant encounters and
WHEREAS, when the CBP Central Processing Center is over capacity and the NGO space is unavailable, that is when the potential for street releases arises; and
WHEREAS, the release of mass groups of people without access to potable water, food, or shelter exposes the migrants and El Paso residents to the origination and spread of potential and actual disease; and
WHEREAS, there are significant public safety and security concerns related to the waves of migration, including but not limited to the risk of injury or loss of life with migrants in El Paso streets with little or no resources on days that reach hot or cold temperatures and the inherent risks that come with increased demand on local shelters; and
WHEREAS, for these reasons, the City is faced with the imminent threat of widespread injury or loss of life resulting from a surge in transient migrants traveling to the region; and
WHEREAS, there is the potential for loss of property for both residents and migrants due to those who would take financial advantage of these waves of migrants; and
WHEREAS, the White House issued a proclamation, effective June 5, 2024, limiting asylum eligibility, and increasing the consequences for crossing the southern border without authorization; and
WHEREAS, the El Paso City Charter Section 3.10, allows for the adoption of one or more emergency ordinances to meet a public emergency affecting life, health, property, or the public peace; and
WHEREAS, Section 121.003 of the Texas Health & Safety Code states that a municipality may enforce any law that is reasonably necessary to protect public health; and
WHEREAS, Section 122.006 of the Texas Health & Safety Code provides home-rule municipalities express authority to adopt rules to protect the health of persons in the municipality, including quarantine rules to protect the residents against communicable disease; and
WHEREAS, this Ordinance shall remain in effect until otherwise terminated, re-enacted, superseded by a conflicting ordinance, El Paso Local Health Authority Ordinance, state or federal law, or repealed automatically as of the 31st day following the date on which it was adopted unless re-enacted pursuant to City Charter Section 3.10; and
WHEREAS, this document reflects the authority of the City of El Paso's Office of Emergency Management in the handling of the local mass migration and is separate and apart from any authority possessed by any other jurisdiction on migrant issues.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EL PASO:
PASSED AND ADOPTED, this 1st day of July, 2024.
THE CITY OF EL PASO, TEXAS Oscar Leeser Mayor
ATTEST: Laura D. Prine City Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM: Karla M. Nieman City Attorney
APPROVED AS TO CONTENT: Mario M. D’Agostino Deputy City Manager Public Health & Safety
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Notice is hereby given that, during a regular meeting of the City Council held on July 16, 2024, the Mayor has approved and the City Council has passed the following Ordinance:
ORDINANCE 019654 An Ordinance authorizing the conveyance of real property owned by the City of El Paso to VTRE Development, LLC for the purchase price of $18,720,000. Such real property legally described as a portion of Lot 1, Block 1, El Paso West, as filed in Book 57, Page 5 of the plat records of El Paso County, Texas
Laura D. Prine, City Clerk
Pursuant to Section 3.9A of the El Paso City Charter, the following Ordinances were properly introduced at a Regular Council Meeting on July 16, 2024:
PUBLIC HEARING WILL BE HELD ON AUGUST 13, 2024 FOR ITEM 1
PUBLIC HEARING WILL BE HELD ON JULY 30, 2024 FOR ITEMS 2 AND 3
PUBLIC HEARING WILL BE HELD ON SEPTEMBER 10, 2024 FOR ITEM 4