More than a thousand migrants could be released every day in Arizona as federal funding for shelters dries up.
Aid workers have warned of ‘homelessness on steroids’ within days as government funding of $1 million a week is cut.
Nonprofits and local governments have traditionally partnered with Border Patrol agents to transport asylum seekers to facilities such as Casa Alitas in Tucson, Arizona, or the Regional Center for Border Health in Yuma.
But with funding set to expire on March 31, there are fears of disorder at the border, where a record number of border crossings have already taken place.
“There is already a difficult homelessness problem in Pima County that we are working tirelessly to solve or alleviate,” Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher said in a memo.
More than a thousand migrants could be released every day in Arizona as federal funding for shelters dries up
Aid workers have warned of ‘homelessness on steroids’ within days as $1m-a-week government funding is cut
Nonprofits and local governments have traditionally partnered with Border Patrol agents to transport asylum seekers to shelters
“What we’re going to experience with street releases is homelessness on steroids.”
She warned that up to 400 migrants a day could be released onto the streets of Tucson without additional shelter space, rising to more than 1,000 a day during peak hours.
“I think this is going to lead to a lot of chaos, and a lot more costs across the board for people to get services, because a lot of the people who come in here leave pretty quickly,” Piña Lopez, executive director of Casa Alitas, told me. The Arizona Republic.
There were a record 2.47 million encounters with migrants at the southern border in fiscal year 2023.
In the first four months of this budget year, more than 250,000 migrants were apprehended in the Tucson sector – the most of any sector patrolled by border agents.
The border crisis has become a flashpoint in the upcoming elections, with both Republicans and Democrats blaming each other for its escalation.
The Republican Party has consistently criticized the Biden administration for what it sees as lax border policies that have resulted in record numbers of border crossings.
Meanwhile, Democrats have accused Republicans of blocking a bipartisan Senate bill that would have boosted border funding at the behest of Donald Trump.
But with funding set to expire on March 31, there are fears of disturbances at the border, where a record number of border crossings have already taken place.
There were a record 2.47 million encounters with migrants at the southern border in fiscal year 2023
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, previously told lawmakers that her state needs at least $752 million in federal funding to keep shelters operational
Former President Trump denounced the deal, dismissing it as a “trap for Democrats” and “one of the dumbest bills” he had ever seen. Trump affirmed that he would “rather have no bill than a bad bill.”
President Biden countered that Republicans were “playing politics” with the border, and that he was willing to “secure the border.”
When Republicans withdrew their support for the border deal, Democrats suggested they were doing so to please Trump.
Last weekend, Congress passed a bill allocating $650 million to replenish the Shelter and Services Program.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, previously told lawmakers that her state needs at least $752 million in federal funding to keep shelters operational.
Last year, Hobbs demanded $512 million in federal funds to reimburse state spending on migrant transportation, drug interdiction and law enforcement “due to the federal government’s inability to secure our border” in a scathing open letter.
On Friday, Rep. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, said the allocation “is significantly below last year’s enacted level and far below the demonstrated need of affected communities.”
“Pima County and other Arizona border communities need resources now, and they cannot afford for those resources to become mired in red tape,” he wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“I urge you to act quickly and decisively on their behalf.”