SAN ANTONIO, Texas — People assisting the thousands of migrants who have arrived in San Antonio after being released from federal custody say Western Unions downtown are regularly running out of cash as a result of the high number of withdrawals being made by emigrants from Central American and African nations.
“Western Union has run out for the past two-and-a-half months,” said Khalid Chini, a local resident and volunteer at the migrant resource center downtown. “All the surrounding area, the Western Unions, they run out of money.”
Chini, a bartender by night, said that during his daytime volunteer shifts, he is often assigned to go with individuals to stores that offer Western Union cash withdrawal services. Chini and others go along for security purposes, as well as to translate for the Congolese, who speak French.
Hundreds of asylum-seekers from Central Africa have arrived in San Antonio from the border over the past three weeks. Since early June, stores that offer Western Union services are running out of money at faster rates because more migrants, spurred by a surge of people from Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are attempting to make withdrawals as they pass through the city on the way to their final destinations.
Western Union’s vice president for global communications said the company was unaware of any shortage. “It is business as usual for Western Union and we have no reports to validate the concerns you raise,” spokeswoman Pia De Lima wrote in an email.
Roland Martinez, a spokesman for the city’s human services department, confirmed the frequent shortages and said some people are taking out money to buy bus or plane tickets to get out of town.
Chini said some of the people he has escorted wanted to withdraw a lot more money than the cost of a plane ticket.
“They’re getting money like you would not believe,” he said. “I went with a guy — he wants to withdraw $25,000.”
Chini said he usually escorts people to a Walgreens on East Houston Street, HEB grocery store on North New Braunfels Avenue, or a Walgreens on West Cypress Street. He said it is now normal to visit one of those three locations downtown and be told they are out of money by midday. Some stores now call the center to tell them when they are out, he said.
The Walgreens on Houston Street told the Washington Examiner one evening this week it was out of money and that it was now a regular occurrence but did not specify when it began.
“Currently right now we’re out of money for Western Union — just for today. We have a limit for each of how much we can take out. You have to come in the morning, probably, to make sure,” an employee said during a store visit.
The two Walgreens locations allow withdrawals of up to $1,000. HEB’s limits fluctuate, but this location confirmed it can accommodate requests of up to $7,500 each, so long as it still has enough cash to fulfill them that day. Some stores that offer Western Union services, including Walgreens, have a daily cap on the amount they will disperse to customers in one day.
“I went with this guy. He just withdraw $800. He withdraw and paid for a ticket,” said Chini.
Those with money are staying at Travis Park Church downtown one night before heading out to their final destinations the following day.
Catholic Charities is paying for bus and train tickets for those who say they cannot afford them. Since early June, the organization said it has paid for 300 plane tickets for Congolese and Angolans alone.
While many Central Americans show up having final destinations in mind, with family members in the country who can pay for their tickets and put them up, African families’ plans are not always so clearly defined. The city said the top destination so far for Congolese families is Portland, Maine, followed by New York City and Buffalo, New York.
