Cochise County impacts from end of Title 42

DOUGLAS, Arizona (KVOA) — With the end of Pandemic-era Title 42 Border Policy looming Thursday night, Cochise County is already seeing a steady stream of asylum seekers being released into the community by border agents.

Earlier this week, Bisbee reported that dozens had been released in the historic mining town.

Douglas Mayor Donald Huesch told News4Tucson’s Corus Nylander on Thursday that the small border town had “zero resources” and urged Arizona officials and federal officials to declare a state of emergency. Said he was begging.

Declarations like this help gather resources in small communities.

Husi said he was seeing a surge in the number of asylum seekers released to Douglas by the day.

“It was about 65 on Monday, up to 90 on Tuesday, and 140 yesterday,” Huesch said.

He said border patrol agents regularly drop buses at a corner near a local Walmart. Luckily for his community, Gov. Katie Hobbs’ plan to work on ending Title 42 will move them all to Tucson, where they will be under the care of Casas Aritas, he said.

Transportation costs are financed from the taxpayer’s tax.

”What we are afraid of is what to do after Casas Aritas is overwhelmed,” he questioned.

Jesús Verdugo lives near Douglas and regularly crosses the border to Agua Prieta. He said the situation on both sides of the border appeared normal and he was unaware of the crowds of people waiting to cross the border inside Mexico.

But he canceled plans for Thursday, fearing what would happen after Title 42 ended.

‘I think it’s better to wait to see what’s really going on, although I know I don’t want to be stuck there,” explained Verdugo.

News 4 Tucson spotted charter bus outside Naco Border Patrol. Local rancher John Ladd said Border Patrol is transporting all of the overflow water from Aho and Yuma to Naco.

Rudd has a ranch on the border near Naco that has been owned by his family for over 120 years.

He told News4Tucson that he had never seen the border situation worse than it is today.

He believes the federal government is deliberately ignoring the problem, and that bringing floodwaters into communities is only exacerbating the problem.

“It’s like putting your finger in the hole in the dam and it’s about to leak,” he says.

He believes it has become an irreparable crisis.

“Hopefully I’m wrong, the border will never be the same again, and I don’t think we’ve hit the low point yet, but I don’t think the border will be safe again,” Rudd said.

Mayor Huesch believes the massive mass crossings in Texas and Yuma are planned by the cartels as a distraction to smuggle drugs and dangerous criminals through areas like Douglas.