Thread: Official warns migrant street releases may begin this weekend in southern Arizona

Official warns migrant street releases may begin this weekend in southern Arizona


José Ignacio Castañeda Perez, Arizona Republic
Sat, December 9, 2023 at 8:02 AM EST·5 min read





Rising numbers of migrant arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border may force southern Arizona authorities to release people onto border community streets without shelter as soon as this weekend.

Unsheltered migrant street releases in Pima, Cochise and Santa Cruz counties may be imminent as humanitarian infrastructure buckles under an unprecedented increase of arrivals in the state, Mark Evans, Pima County communications director, warned Friday.

“We are very close to street releases,” Evans said. “If we don't have them this weekend I would be quite surprised.”

Migrants board a Pima County-funded bus headed for Phoenix after being released by Border Patrol into Nogales on Thursday, September 21, 2023.

If unsheltered releases were to occur in Pima County, authorities will prioritize sheltering the most vulnerable people first. Children and family units will take priority before single adults, Evans said.

“We don't want anybody on the streets,” Evans said.

By the end of the year, the southern Arizona sheltering system will have helped more than 350,000 migrants since Pima County first began assisting in 2019, according to a Dec. 5 memo sent by Jan Lesher, Pima County administrator, to the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

Migrants board a Pima County-funded bus headed for Phoenix after being released by Border Patrol into Nogales on Thursday, September 21, 2023.

About 3,800 migrants were released into the Pima County sheltering system Wednesday and Thursday, straining the available space and resources available. If release rates hold, unsheltered street releases in Pima, Cochise and Santa Cruz counties are likely.

“The system should have collapsed under that,” Evans said.

“The fact that we've handled 3,800 releases in two days and didn't have a significant humanitarian crisis of people on the street by the hundreds is just amazing to me.”

Alejandra Ceballos, health equity coordinator with Santa Cruz County Public Health Services, helps migrants board a Pima County-funded bus headed for Phoenix after being released by Border Patrol into Nogales on Thursday, September 21, 2023.

The sheltering system was exhausted when they were seeing 1,300 daily releases, a number that has long been passed. If unsheltered releases are going to happen, they’ll happen this weekend, Evans said.

'Heroic efforts': How Arizona counties, nonprofits are responding to migrant street releases

The speed at which people are processed through the sheltering system is a significant factor in determining if unsheltered releases will occur. Additionally, weekends are more difficult for churches to house migrants, given that they must hold services.

Coordinated Border Patrol releases have been happening since May with Pima County and Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs buses transporting migrants from rural border communities to larger cities, such as Tucson and Phoenix.

Migrants and asylum seekers are guided into vans to be transported for processing by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument along the U.S.-Mexico border about a mile west of Lukeville, Ariz., on Dec. 4, 2023. The Lukeville Port of Entry was closed indefinitely by officials Dec. 4.

In September, the Border Patrol reached a point of overcapacity in their facilities that they stopped waiting for state- and county-funded buses before releasing migrants into border communities. Street releases first began in Bisbee, Douglas, Naco, Nogales and Casa Grande from sunrise to sunset with many local officials being given short to no notice about the releases.

The shift led to handfuls of migrants being erratically released every few hours with little information about next steps.

Since then, Pima County has been leading the humanitarian response to street releases in southern Arizona with funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program for the majority of the year.

U.S. Border Patrol transfers a few dozen migrants to a state-run charter bus headed toward Phoenix from the Douglas Visitor's Center parking lot on Wednesday, May 17, 2023.

Coordinated street releases are happening in Nogales and Douglas. Migrants are dropped off by the Border Patrol and immediately transferred to buses that will take them to Tucson or Phoenix shelters where they can then catch flights to their final destinations elsewhere in the country.

Border funding questions: Federal funding process for humanitarian aid at border comes under scrutiny

The EFSP funding, which was expected to last through the end of the year, has already been depleted as Pima County burns through roughly $4 million in expenses each month, as of November. The burn rate is double what was expected.

The county is now undergoing a transition to the new federal Shelter and Services Program funding model. The new model imposes more stringent restrictions on what nonprofits and governments can use the funds for.

Migrants and asylum seekers wait to be picked up and processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument along the U.S.-Mexico border about a mile west of Lukeville, Ariz., on Dec. 4, 2023. The Lukeville Port of Entry was closed indefinitely by officials Dec. 4.

The SSP funding limits the amount of hotel rooms that can be reimbursed and the amount of transportation resources available.

SSP Funding: Arizona nonprofits get $2.3 million more to provide humanitarian aid to migrants

The new funding model will reduce the number of migrants who can be helped each day by 30%, according to Lesher. The number of migrants the system can accommodate will be reduced from roughly 1,100 per day to 750 under SSP.

The new funding will only support 64 hotel or motel rooms per night, as opposed to the 380 that were previously covered under EFSP. Pima County was previously providing three meals a day to all migrants but the SSP funding will only cover 950 people fed per meal each day.

Migrants and asylum seekers wait to be picked up and processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument along the U.S.-Mexico border about a mile west of Lukeville, Ariz., on Dec. 4, 2023. The Lukeville Port of Entry was closed indefinitely by officials Dec. 4.

Lesher warned that, if the daily release rate of more than 1,000 holds, there will be unsheltered migrant street releases in one or more southern Arizona counties possibly every day.

However, if the number of releases falls below 750 a day, the system will continue to prevent unsheltered street releases, she added in the Dec. 5 memo. Still, Pima County is projected to run out of SSP funds in February 2024.

There will be a “massive” humanitarian crisis If Congress doesn’t appropriate more SSP funding to Pima County by February, Evans said.

“It's not going to matter how many people get released because we're not going to have a shelter for them,” Evans added.

The Pima County transportation, housing and food costs have skyrocketed from June to October. Food costs increased by 293% while transportation surged by 95% in the four-month span, according to Pima County data.

Lesher has asked all Pima County departments overseeing migrant sheltering services to “explore every possible option” to cut costs, according to a Thursday memo Lesher sent to the board of supervisors.

One cost-cutting option being explored is distributing ready-to-eat meals, known as MREs, to migrants in the sheltering system, given that they are cheaper than their current food service.

Lesher announced that she will be convening a committee, composed of Pima County staff and nongovernmental organizations, to come up with a plan to minimize the effects of unsheltered releases on communities if and when the funding runs out.

The contingency plan will try to mitigate the effects at the lowest possible cost to local government budgets.

Have a news tip or story idea about the border and its communities? Contact the reporter at josecastaneda@arizonarepublic.com or connect with him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @joseicastaneda.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Migrant street releases may begin this weekend in southern Arizona




https://www.yahoo.com/news/official-...130220511.html

Arizona does not "want anybody in the streets", except of course, millions of homeless American citizens.

Dump these foreign citizens in the streets of their country!

This will not end well. This government is not functioning. It is run by enemies of America and the American people. Any criminal or other troubled individual can cross our borders and have the run of the country.

Cartels are in control more and more on our side of the border. Cartels want to be paid so the illegal aliens will do whatever necessary to meet their obligation and to have a life here.

We are waiting victims for every depraved act imaginable, courtesy of the United States government. Aiding and abetting lawlessness and our destruction.