10
Loading video...
By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Thousands of migrants could be released en masse onto the streets in days, causing chaos in southern border communities as support funding dries up, say officials.
Local governments and nonprofits in the region have long worked with U.S. border officials to take migrants to sites such as Casa Alitas, a Catholic-run shelter for migrant families in Tucson, Arizona, or the Regional Center for Border Health in Yuma.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disburses funds from the Shelter and Services Program to entities providing shelter, food, transportation, and support to people who have been processed and released from custody while awaiting the outcome of immigration proceedings. But that federal funding will run out on March 31.
Read More
Greg Abbott Installs New Razor Wire After Migrants Overpower National Guard5 min read
California Sees Surge in Migrants From Haiti3 min read
Migrants Being Arrested Are Surging4 min read
Immigration is promising to be a top issue ahead of this year's presidential election, as both presumed nominees blame each other for the worsening situation.
...
President Joe Biden and his Democrats have condemned Republicans for tanking a bipartisan border bill that sought to tamp down the number of illegal crossings at the southern border. Donald Trump and the GOP have held Biden's immigration policies responsible for the record number of crossings.
Newsweek has emailed both the Trump and Biden campaigns for comment.
The migrant releases and reduction in adequate shelter will sow more disorder at the border, said Diego Piña Lopez, the executive director of Pima County's Casa Alitas—which is expected to stop most operations soon due to lack of federal funding and local dollars available to subsidize legally processed asylum seekers released by Border Patrol.
"I think that's going to lead to a lot of chaos, and a lot more cost across the board for folks to get services, as many of the people coming through leave fairly quickly here," Piña Lopez told The Arizona Republic.
Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher said the county cannot afford the roughly $1 million per week that previously would have been covered by federal funds to keep migrants off the streets in border communities.
Lesher warned in a February memo to the Pima County Board of Supervisors that there could be as many as 400 migrants a day released onto the streets of Tucson from as soon as April 1 without additional shelter space. When there is a larger influx of border crossers, that number could exceed 1,000 a day, she wrote.
"There is already a difficult homeless problem in Pima County that we are working tirelessly to solve or mitigate," Lesher added. "What we are about to experience with street releases is homelessness on steroids."
Newsweek has contacted U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Arizona, Lesher and Casa Alitas for comment via email.
Congress over the weekend passed a spending bill that allocated $650 million to replenish the Shelter and Services Program. Earlier this month, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, told lawmakers that at least $752 million in federal funding was needed to keep shelter services afloat in her state.
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Friday, Rep. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, said the $650 million allocated for the program "is significantly below last year's enacted level and far below the demonstrated need of impacted communities."
He said it is "imperative" that Arizona's allotment not be reduced and that the funds be swiftly disbursed to local governments and nonprofits in the state.
"Pima County and other Arizona border communities need resources right now, and they cannot afford to have those resources caught up in bureaucratic red tape," he wrote. "I strongly urge you to act quickly and decisively on their behalf."
Gallego's office has been contacted for comment via email by Newsweek.
...
This chart, provided by Statista, shows the number of migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border, by fiscal year.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines