An additional $2.75 million will be spent to cover the costs of asylum seekers who need additional medical care to combat the spread of COVID-19, under a plan approved Tuesday by the Pima County Board of Supervisors.
Funding to mitigate the spread of the virus by allocating funds to housing affected asylum seekers has now increased to nearly $20 million. Supervisor Steve Christie was the only vote against it.
Most of the funding comes from the federal government, but the contract amendment says the $2.75 million approved Tuesday comes from the Immigration Emergency Treatment and Testing Grant. County Administrator Jan Lesher said this is a new source of funding from the Arizona Department of Health Services.
The use of state funds is “in part” due to the county's rapid withdrawal of federal funds, District 1 Supervisor Rex Scott confirmed to Lesher at Tuesday's meeting. .
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Scott said Tuesday that if the federal government doesn't support the county's efforts to deal with the influx of refugees, it will no longer support such costs.
“I have consistently voted in favor of leveraging federal funds provided to border counties to address the impact of federal immigration policy to protect and care for legally processed asylum seekers. We've done it and we'll continue to do it,' because the federal government needs to make sure that border counties like ours aren't running out of private money. But if these funds are depleted at the end of February, I want to say to my colleagues and county officials that I will not vote to use General Fund monies to pay for the consequences of federal immigration policy,” Scott said. he said Tuesday.
“I won't vote to use the general fund for purposes that should be supported by the federal government…because that's not what we're asking local taxpayers to take on,” Scott said, citing concerns about potential releases on the streets and concerns from voters. He said, citing the concerns raised. .
In September 2021, the county signed a $2 million contract with Giotto Properties LLC, which owns the Red Roof Inn near Tucson International Airport and Comfort Suites Airport. The Star previously reported that eligible asylum seekers were housed using federal funds.
After various modifications, the amount awarded in the contract is now $19.4 million. Tuesday's amendment extends the contract until June 18.
The number of asylum seekers released from Casa Alitas remains high, with 9,525 people released into the center from Dec. 21 to Dec. 27, according to the county. This equates to an average of approximately 1,361 people being released per day.
These numbers are an increase from the previous week's release total of 9,466 and the four weeks before that, according to the Southwest Border Administration Situation Report submitted to the board on Tuesday.
From Sept. 13 to Dec. 20, about 45,000 single adults and their families were released in Nogales and about 4,600 in Douglas and Naco, the county said. Approximately 60% of the released asylum seekers were family members, according to the report.
Most asylum seekers released into Tucson shelters stay only one or two nights before moving on. But in recent months, the county had warned in advance about the possibility of releasing asylum seekers onto the streets due to the steady influx of migrants, the Star reported.
Border agents in the Tucson area encountered 64,638 migrants in November, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. This exceeds the record number of 55,226 migrant encounters in this sector reported at the start of the federal fiscal year in October. According to CBP, 191,113 migrants were encountered crossing the Southwest border in November, compared to 188,780 the previous month.
