Migrant releases resume
U.S. border authorities have resumed the practice of releasing asylum-seekers apprehended along the Arizona-Mexico border to communities across the state. But the number of asylum-seekers released remains far below the peak in arrivals in 2019, in large part because of pandemic restrictions.
U.S. border authorities have resumed the practice of releasing asylum-seekers apprehended along the Arizona-Mexico border directly to communities throughout the state.
But the number of asylum-seekers released remains far below the peak in arrivals in 2019, in large part because of pandemic restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border, including a policy that allows the U.S. to turn away migrants, even if they have valid asylum claims.
The most recent releases in Arizona began Feb. 15 in Yuma, according to Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls. U.S. Border Patrol officials began releasing migrants in the border cities of Yuma and San Luis, he said. The practice has since expanded to Tucson and Phoenix, according to nonprofits working with asylum seekers in those cities.
The release of asylum-seekers in Yuma this month renewed concerns that surfaced in October 2018 and in April 2019, when the Border Patrol released asylum-seekers directly into the community because of overcrowding.
Any people taken into custody in Yuma usually are transported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to Phoenix.
In 2018 and 2019, there was such an increase in arrivals and people willingly turning themselves in at the Arizona-Mexico border that it created bottlenecks within ICE’s transportation system, forcing Border Patrol to release mi-
grants in Yuma and in Tucson, which has a network of migrant shelters.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not disclosed how many asylum-seekers have been released in Arizona. The agency deferred comment to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which did not respond to requests for comment.
Nicholls also did not respond to multiple requests for comment. But in an interview Thursday with Fox News, he said some 170 people had been released. He also highlighted some of the recurring concerns about the release of asylum-seekers in his city.
“A community of our size, we’re roughly 200,000 people, we don’t have a network of NGO or non-profits set up that could really address this situation,” he said, calling for a prohibition on releasing migrants in smaller communities such as Yuma.
Migrants shelters around Arizona are reporting an increase in the number of asylum-seekers who ICE and Border Patrol have released into their care over the past two weeks.
In Tucson, Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona operates Casa Alitas, a hospitality center for migrants housed in a former juvenile detention facility converted into a shelter. The facility receives all migrants released in Tucson.
Diego Pina-Lopez, a program manager for Casa Alitas, said they have always been received asylum-seekers released to their care, even during the first months of the pandemic. But in recent weeks they have seen a slight uptick, receiving several dozen migrants each day.
Catholic Community Services last week assisted in housing a small number of asylum-seekers in Yuma, because that city doesn’t have a permanent shelter. But Pina-Lopez emphasized that the numbers of migrants released has been much smaller than they had expected.
“I think that’s where the problems will be, in recognizing that we have had this experience, we’ve done this before, and not making it look bigger than it is,” he said.
In addition to the hospitality center for migrants, Casa Alitas has been working with their network of churches and shelters around the region to house and assist asylum-seekers, like they did in 2019.
The Inn Project, a shelter operated by
the United Methodist Church, is among the network of shelters in Tucson. They had stopped receiving migrants since pandemic restrictions began in March.
But Feb. 16, they again started taking in a small number asylum-seekers. Because of COVID-19, they have been using a hotel instead of housing them at their permanent shelter, which is located inside a church basement.
Casa Alitas pioneered that practice in Yuma during the first migrant releases in October 2018. But Gretchen Lopez, who manages the Inn Project, said that being out in the community also makes the asylum-seekers a bit more uneasy and vulnerable.
“We are definitely wanting to be more cautious and more hush-hush, even more so about our location, and especially because now, after the last four years, I feel like the people that would oppose this work and these families are a lot more bold and out there now,” Lopez said.
Following the 2019 surge and migrant releases that overwhelmed border communities, several nonprofits in Phoenix came together to establish a centralized migrant shelter for asylum-seekers under the direction of the International Rescue Committee.
By the time the shelter opened in July 2019, the number of migrant families transported from the Yuma area had already started to decrease. Stanford Prescott, the community engagement coordinator with the IRC, said the shelter has seen a steady increase in migrant arrivals at the shelter since January.
The asylum seekers ICE has released into their care are transported from Yuma, Prescott said. So are migrant families who were in immigration detention centers in central Arizona. He said coordination with federal, state and local officials was key.
“In 2019 there were people released in the bus stations. We do not want a repeat of that,” Prescott said. “So we’re working to make sure that we have a coordinated collaborative response, that ensures a safe, orderly and humane approach to receiving these families.”
COVID-19 concerns in Yuma
Migrant apprehensions in the Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector, which includes the entire Yuma County, remain far below the numbers seen in 2019, when migrant releases numbered up to 350 migrants per day and Nicholls issued an emergency declaration.
Monthly statistics from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the Border Patrol, showed that apprehensions have been climbing steadily in the Yuma Sector over the past year after reaching historic lows in April because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In January, agents in Yuma apprehended more than 1,600 migrants, a 35% increase compared to December but still far below the 13,000 peak in apprehensions in May 2019.
One the challenges this time is the COVID-19 pandemic. Customs and Border Protection has expelled more than 400,000 migrants since late March under an emergency public health rule that allows the U.S. to turn back migrants at the border known as Title 42.
Not all migrants are turned away. And to maintain social distancing and other public health guidelines, Border Patrol has reduced its holding space, which makes it easier for them to reach their holding capacity. The capacity situation precipitated the release of approximately 5,400 migrants in Yuma in 2019, according to the nonprofits.
Officials with the Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector have not said if that’s the reason they started releasing asylum-seekers this month.
Nicholls said asylum-seekers were not being tested for COVID-19 before their release, raising concerns for him a third wave of infections. Yuma County is already the hardest hit area in Arizona, and continues to have the highest infection rate in the state.
“Anytime you add an unknown element in that could bring even more potential exposure to the community, as well as the individuals coming across that may need to have additional medical care, taxes our local medical care system and we only have one hospital,” he told Fox News.
Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., represents the northern portions of Yuma County. In a letter dated Feb. 17, he called on Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot to round up asylum-seekers and “hold them in prison until they can be tested, quarantined and then returned to their home countries.”
Wilmot declined, citing a lack of authority because the U.S. government released asylum-seekers with a notice to appear in court at a later date, which means they are not in the country illegally.
“Seeking asylum is a legal right under federal law,” Prescott said.
“So what we mean to do is make sure that they have that safe and orderly process here in the U.S., so that they can continue to be in the legal process, and ultimately have their claims heard by a judge,” he added.
Migrant shelters in Arizona are working with county health officials to test asylum seekers released into the community, before they head to their final destination with relatives living elsewhere in the U.S.
Casa Alitas provides rapid COVID-19 testing for asylum-seekers at its welcome center in Tucson. On Monday, the International Rescue Committee will begin using rapid tests provided by
Maricopa County at its welcome center in Phoenix. They will work with the county to quarantine anyone who tests positive.
Pandemic poses challenges
Even though the numbers of asylum-seekers released in Arizona so far this month remain below the numbers from 2019, the pandemic presents other challenges for the nonprofits.
The migrant shelters have implemented social distancing and other public health guidelines to avoid the spread of COVID-19. That takes up additional resources, and it could become a bigger issue.
Housing asylum-seekers costly.
The Salvation Army operated a temporary shelter in Yuma in 2019 at the height of migrant releases in that city. The group estimates it spent nearly $400,000 to house and feed approximately 5,400 migrants.
A statement from Salvation Army said the organization this time has not been asked to provide assistance in Yuma.
Migrant shelter operators says they need more resources and support from the local, state or federal governments to continue housing asylum-seekers.
In August 2019, after the surge that year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced it would provide grants totaling $30 million to nonprofits working with asylum seekers. They divided the funding into two rounds of money.
But in several instances that money did not end up in the hands of the organizations that needed it most.
“The first round was really messy, really complicated to apply for,” Lopez said. “And so the Inn, being a smaller organization, smaller shelter, we didn’t even participate in that first round because it was just too much for us to be
can
be able to comply with everything to the level that it needed to be.”
The Inn Project applied for and received funding for the second round of grants, as did many of the migrant shelters in Arizona. The majority of those funds were reimbursements and did not cover all expenses.
“We’re hopeful that something like that will come to fruition. But we have not gotten any word yet as far as anything like that that will be available to us,” Lopez said.
U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., who represents Yuma and Tucson in Congress, wrote a letter to President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that urges them to designate more funding for nonprofits and local governments helping asylumseekers at the border.
“These entities ensure that families receive basic necessities, medical care, and assistance with travel arrangements while providing them with important information on their immigration court proceedings,” Grijalva wrote. “In addition, due to the pandemic, nongovernmental organizations, counties, and cities will need to implement COVID-19 preventative measures to protect public health while assisting asylum seekers.”
A Grijalva spokesperson said neither Biden nor DHS had responded to the letter.
“We’re trying to be conscientious of what’s the next problem down the road, as I think we’ve all been having to do during the pandemic,” Pina-Lopez of Casa Alitas said.
They have been fortunate to have continuous support from the community in southern Arizona that has allowed them to continue their work via donations, funding and volunteers, he said.
“We do need to see our partners in the government to get funding to be able to keep on doing our work.”
“In 2019 there were people released in the bus stations. We do not want a repeat of that. So we’re working to make sure that we have a coordinated collaborative response, that ensures a safe, orderly and humane approach to receiving these families.”
Stanford Prescott
Community engagement coordinator with the International Rescue Committee