Sen. Kelly returns to Yuma to discuss border security
Sen. Mark Kelly was in Yuma on Friday to meet with local officials about how the border crisis is affecting their communities, the same day a federal judge in Louisiana issued a ruling preventing the Biden administration from lifting COVID-19 restrictions that allow migrants to be deported without giving them a chance to claim asylum.
Speaking at a press conference held afterward inside a conference room at the Yuma County Department of Development Services, 2351 W. 26th St., Kelly said he is unconvinced that the federal government has done enough to prepare for a potential surge in migration once Title 42 is lifted.
“I don’t agree that Title 42 should be left in place forever, but until a few things happen we should keep it in place,” said Kelly, who has been to Yuma six times since being elected. “I have been pretty vocal about that.”
Kelly said he believes Title 42 should remain in place until the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services determines the country is no longer under a “public health emergency” due to the COVID-19
pandemic.
Title 42 had been scheduled to be rescinded on Monday.
He also wants the Biden administration to have a comprehensive plan in place that ensures the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has a way to handle surges at the border and to provide funding to carry out that plan.
“The federal government has failed border states and communities on the issue of border security and migration for decades,” Kelly said. “We have spent billions of dollars on this, and we still have a crisis at our southern border.”
DHS has predicted that border encounters could jump from 7,000 migrants a day to 18,000 a day once Title 42 is lifted, which equates to about half a million a month. Border Patrol agents also apprehended nearly 235,000 migrants at the southern border in April, which is a historical high.
Earlier in the day, prior to the ruling coming down, Kelly received an operational briefing from Chief Patrol Agent Chris T. Clem and other Yuma Sector Border Patrol leaders on the numbers and trends of migrant encounters and its contingency plans for managing the border pending the recession of Title 42.
Kelly, however, declined to say what those numbers were when asked.
Among the topics discussed was securing funding to close some of the gaps in the Yuma Sector’s border wall system, specifically around Morelos Dam, where there is about nine-tenths of a mile without any type of barriers, and the place where large groups of migrants are regularly crossing into the country illegally.
Despite being overwhelmed the past year, Kelly said he is encouraged about the steps Clem has taken to address the ongoing immigration crisis in Yuma County.
In order to free up agents and get them back out patrolling the border, civilians are being hired to perform data entry duties and help with transportation, and U.S. Marshals are also being brought in to assist in processing migrants.
“I feel better about the situation here in Yuma today, than I did yesterday. I think (Chief Clem) has a plan tailored for the Yuma Sector,” Kelly said. “It shouldn’t always be for the sector chiefs to figure out. It should come from the administration and the Department of Homeland Security.”
Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls added that whatever plan is developed for when Title 42 is lifted, it should be designed to take into account the challenges each border community faces, and how they vary from region to region.
“When we talk about a plan, it won’t work the same everywhere,” Nicholls said.
Unlike larger cities, Nicholls said Yuma does not have enough nonprofit organizations to assist the large number of migrants who continue to cross in the area, and it is resulting in a tremendous strain being put on the area’s economy.
While the Regional Center for Border Health has stepped up to assist the Yuma Sector Border Patrol when migrants are released into the community by providing them with transportation to their final destinations, President and CEO Amanda Aguirre said it’s not what the agency was formed to do.
“Most families have the means to do that, so we are coordinating with airlines and other forms of transportation to get them to where their sponsors or loved ones are, which is typically the East Coast,” Aguirre said.
She added that in order to safeguard the community, and continue assisting migrants in the most humane way, access to healthcare is vital and more funding from the federal government is needed.
“Solving this issue must be done at the federal level, not the community level,” Aguirre said.
Since taking office, Kelly said he has helped secure $100 million in funding for the hiring and retention of Border Patrol agents, nearly a billion dollars to the CBP, $276 million for technology, $200 million for a joint processing center and $150 million for a food and shelter initiative.
He was also part of a bipartisan infrastructure bill to appropriate funding to build a new Port of Entry in San Luis.