Arizona has blocked nearly 5,000 asylum seekers from being released onto the streets of rural border areas through a state-backed bus line established in early May.
According to Don Bolger, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs, the state has arranged 143 buses and blocked the unauthorized release of 4,983 asylum seekers as of July 5.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs first established the bathroom route on May 8, days before the Title 42 health restrictions expired on May 11. The route operated twice daily from Douglas, Naco, Bisbee and Nogales to Casa Aritas Immigration. Tucson Refuge.
Bolger said the ongoing program has cost $371,218 to date. Funding for this route comes from the state Border Patrol Fund.
“Intrastate buses are operating as needed to assist with decompression of border areas in Naco, Nogales, Douglas and Yuma through coordination with AZDEMA and county emergency managers,” Bolger said in a statement. Stated.
“We continue to assess how long increased state assistance to border communities will be needed.”
DEMA is an agency that works with local governments and non-profits to prevent asylum seekers from being released onto the streets of small border communities.
The bus line was introduced to ease the burden on border communities, which often lack the infrastructure and resources needed to care for recently arrived asylum seekers. Communities are often miles from the nearest airport or bus station that helps them reach their final destination elsewhere in the country.
Officials feared a surge in migrants arriving along the Arizona-Mexico border if Trump-era border restrictions were lifted. There was no increase after Title 42 ended, but there was an increase in arrivals in the days leading up to May 11th.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, more than half of the immigrants encountered by Border Patrol in May occurred before the end of Title 42. The average number of encounters plummeted from an average of nearly 9,000 per day before the restrictions ended to an average of 3,500 per day after May 11th.
On May 17, charter buses departing from southeastern Arizona began traveling to Phoenix rather than Tucson, which has greater capacity to assist asylum seekers. DEMA commenced service from Somerton to Phoenix on May 9.
Arizona has seen an increase in immigrant arrivals ahead of the lifting of Title 42, and Border Patrol agents began releasing paroled asylum seekers to border areas beginning the week of May 8. These communities are located next to border patrol stations where officers receive and process immigrants.
Nonprofits in Tucson and Somerton typically host asylum seekers and help transport them to Phoenix or Tucson after they are released on parole and enter the country. These organizations provide shelter, food, and medical services while helping to arrange travel to final destinations.
However, as the number of arrivals increases, shelters may reach capacity and not accept any more asylum seekers.
Equipment to support border guards, who can only hold migrants in facilities for a limited period of time, and resort to releasing asylum seekers on parole directly to border communities when border guards are full are often not in order.
It’s not the first time something like this has happened.
Since October 2018, border guards have occasionally released asylum seekers to smaller communities such as Aho and Hira Bend. As authorities scrambled to respond and move migrants to Phoenix, the release caught them off guard.
This practice has been extended until 2021.
Got news tips or story ideas about the border and its communities? josecastaneda@arizonarepublic.com Or connect with him on Twitter @joseicastaneda.
