The federal government has injected $5.2 million in funding to allow Pima County to continue assisting asylum seekers who need additional medical care to combat the spread of COVID-19. The county announced Friday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)'s Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) is working to assist asylum seekers who have crossed the U.S. border and are being processed and protected in Tucson, according to a Friday news release from the newspaper. It gave the county funding to continue. county.
This funding is provided to help alleviate the costs of stopping the spread of COVID-19. Its cost has already reached nearly $20 million. The Pima County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved spending $2.75 million in state funds for the effort.
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The additional $5.2 million in federal funding is expected to last the county “through mid-April 2024,” according to the release.
The need for additional funding from the federal government was the subject of a joint opinion article published in the Jan. 7 issue of the Arizona Daily Star, written by District 5 Supervisor and Board Chair Adelita Grijalva and Tucson Written by Mayor Regina Romero.
“Neither the county nor the city can afford to continue using local tax dollars to safely support the passage of asylum seekers once federal funds are exhausted. This is a federal responsibility,” they wrote.
“We have demonstrated that when funded by Congress, local agencies can manage and prevent the negative effects of federal immigration policy,” they wrote.
Pima County Executive Jan Lesher called the efforts by the county and other local agencies over the past five years “frankly heroic.”
“This averted a humanitarian crisis and kept our streets safer. But we can't do it alone,” Lescher said in a written statement. “We must work with our federal partners toward sustainable solutions, and this is a productive step in that direction.”
