(September 11, 2023) New York City is getting a ton of money that otherwise would have gone to Arizona efforts to help asylum seekers. We’re talking about millions of federal dollars that keep facilities like the Casa Alitas Welcome Center afloat. ****Without that money, we could see the nightmare scenario of thousands of people, including children, dropped off on Tucson’s streets without knowing where they are or how to get to where they’re going. Unfortunately for Southern Arizona, officials in New York City muscled their way to the front of the line. They got $104 million in the most recent round of funding this summer, while Arizona got less than one-fourth as much, about $24 million. (Tucson Agenda)

(September 14, 2023) Federal funds are drying up: Pima County officials are saying that although the number of asylum seekers they’re serving is increasing, the federal funding to assist them has decreased, which could mean migrants being released on the streets with no services as early as May, Arizona Public Media’s Danyelle Khmara reports. Pima County received about 18,000 migrants in 2019, but has received more than 90,000 migrants in the first seven months of 2023.

(September 18, 2023) Finding shelter: Amid a recent uptick in migrants and asylum seekers crossing Arizona’s border with Mexico, local governments and aid organizations are straining as they try to find shelter for them, the Star’s Emily Bregel reports. At the downtown port of entry in Nogales, Angela Gervasi of the Nogales International talks with asylum seekers just after they are processed and released.

(September 22, 2023) Big change in the Big Apple: The Biden administration will allow about 472,000 Venezuelans who arrived in the U.S. before July 31 to work legally. That could lessen New York City’s financial costs as 110,000 asylum seekers arrived over the past year, many from Venezuela. The mayor and governor of New York had criticized Biden for not acting swiftly to relieve the cost of housing thousands of asylum seekers. With work permits, Venezuelan asylum seekers will be able to start moving out of city shelters.

(September 22, 2023) Pressure release: Those work permits for Venezuelan asylum seekers could ease pressure on the federal funds needed by border states like Arizona, especially as the Border Patrol releases migrants on the streets and Tucson shelters are strained, as the Sentinel’s Paul Ingram reports.

(September 28, 2023) Walking a tightrope: The Star’s Emily Bregel sheds light on the “daily chess game” of making sure asylum seekers have a place to stay for a few days after they cross the border. One big factor that’s complicating the game is the decision by the Border Patrol to drop people off without notice, and sometimes on the streets of small towns, now that a rise in asylum seekers is straining federal resources.

“Because we’re not getting clear insight into the numbers being dropped off at any given time, it’s still challenging to know what we’re working with for the day or the next day,” Diego Piña Lopez, agency director for Casa Alitas, said. “We need more clear information on what’s coming down the pipeline to us, as best as DHS (the Department of Homeland Security) is able to provide.”

(October 18, 2023) Well, that fizzled pretty quickly. When the Biden administration announced in late September that Venezuelan asylum seekers could get work permits, it was supposed to be a breakthrough that would ease the taxpayer burden in New York, where thousands of Venezuelans were sleeping in city-run shelters. That, in turn, would have given some breathing room for Pima County officials who oversee the program that takes care of asylum seekers for a few days after they cross the border in Southern Arizona. Instead, the work permit program in New York ran right into the quagmire of federal bureaucracy. (Tucson Agenda)

(February 16) Maybe call ahead next time: A congressman from Wisconsin showed up unannounced at a hotel in Tucson that houses asylum seekers. He was turned away and staff called the sheriff’s department. Now he’s raising a ruckus, KGUN’s Adam Klepp reports. Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany claims non-profits like Casa Alitas, which coordinates shelter for asylum seekers in Tucson, are the reason people immigrate. He said he purposely showed up unannounced so he could get an “unvarnished look.” Casa Alitas staff said any federal lawmaker can take a tour, as long as they make arrangements first.

(February 20) The nightmare scenario for Pima County officials is on the horizon, now that the federal dollars that allowed local groups to care for asylum seekers are running out. County officials raised the alarm for months that without those funds hundreds of asylum seekers would be released on the streets of Tucson every day, along with hundreds more in Santa Cruz and Cochise counties. With Congress’ failure to pass immigration legislation, county officials say they are all but certain federal funding will end in late March. They are about to start winding down their five-year effort to avoid a humanitarian crisis, while coming up with contingency plans, such as providing the “bare necessities” at the Mission facility near the county jail, County Administrator Jan Lesher wrote in a memo last week. The board of supervisors will discuss what to do next at their meeting today. (Tucson Agenda)

(February 20) Speaking of asylum, county officials gave their most detailed accounting yet of the cost of asylum seekers’ plane tickets from Tucson to their final destinations. Critics claim it’s a major cost to taxpayers, while county officials say public funds rarely are used for those tickets. At their Feb. 6 meeting, Supervisor Steve Christy asked about the “amount of airline tickets taxpayers are paying for, as opposed to a sponsor or an NGO.” The county, using federal money, generally buys plane tickets when a large family can’t afford tickets for every member of the family or when an asylum seeker has a medical condition that requires speedy travel, Lesher wrote last week. The county did not buy any plane tickets for asylum seekers from 2019 to June 2022. In the latter half of 2022, they spent $1 million on 3,900 plane tickets, which amounted to 4.7% of asylum seekers. In all of 2023, they spent $1.6 million on 5,300 plane tickets for 2.4% of asylum seekers. Just looking at December, it was 600 tickets for 1.3% of asylum seekers, and cost $187,000. (Tucson Agenda)

(February 21) County says no: The Pima County supervisors decided on Tuesday they won’t use county funds to care for asylum seekers after federal funds dry up next month, the Arizona Daily Star’s Charles Borla reports. The supervisors are writing a letter to southern Arizona’s congressional delegation to that effect. They’re hoping other local officials, as well as those in Cochise and Santa Cruz counties, who also have been dealing with large numbers of asylum seekers, will sign the letter.

(March 1) Don't need a crystal ball: Tucson and Pima County officials are watching with concern as the Border Patrol drops off hundreds of migrants at a transit center in San Diego, straining resources there. Federal funds recently ran out for humanitarian efforts there and the same is about to happen here at the end of March. Tucson City Manager Mike Ortega pointed to the situation in San Diego in a memo this week, calling it "our near-term reality."

(March 11) Crisis still looming: Just like Tucson officials who’ve spent the past five years supporting thousands of asylum seekers, officials in Nogales and Santa Cruz County are bracing for what might happen when federal funds run out at the end of the month, the Nogales International’s Angela Gervasi reports. Just across the border in Nogales, Sonora, asylum seekers are spending months waiting for their turn to ask for asylum at the legal port of entry, rather than crossing through the desert, the Luminaria’s John Washington reports.

(January 11) More COVID funding: Pima County supervisors voted Tuesday to approve an additional $2.75 million in funding to help fight the spread of COVID-19 among asylum seekers, the Arizona Daily Star’s Charles Borla writes. This brings the total amount spent on housing for affected migrants to nearly $20 million, most of it federal funds. Supervisor Steve Christy did not support the additional funding, which comes from the Immigrant Emergency Care and Testing Grant, a new source of funds from the Arizona Department of Health Services.

(January 9) Aid costs money: The federal funds that pay for the chaotic miracle Steller described could run out as soon as next month, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero and Grijalva wrote in a guest opinion in the Star. If the federal dollars dry up, local governments will be faced with a humanitarian crisis.

“Who will help these asylum seekers with language barriers make flight or bus reservations? Where will they get food and water? Where will they go to the bathroom? Where will they sleep? As the 500 released today struggle to figure out how to move on, they will be joined by another 500 tomorrow. And another 500 the day after that, and another, and another, day after day until there are thousands of desperate people on the street just trying to survive, let alone book a flight out of town,” Romero and Grijalva wrote.

(January 9) Pulling together: Behind the scenes, another “chaotic miracle” is playing out as Tucsonans rally to help thousands of asylum seekers, Arizona Daily Star columnist Tim Steller writes. The miracle back in 2019 involved local volunteers coming out of the woodwork to help a couple hundred asylum seekers every day, often at the former Benedictine Monastery. Today, “Tucson is reliving the spirit of 2019, less visibly but on a greater scale,” as the Casa Alitas shelter and the Border Patrol do their best to coordinate the arrival of 1,500 people daily for the past few weeks.

(January 8) Pinching pennies: Pima County is stretching its funds to shelter and screen migrants, as officials say that the recent reduction in federal money could potentially lead to street releases as early as the end of February, the Green Valley News’ Jorge Encinas writes. On Wednesday, County Administrator Jan Lesher said that the county sees about 9,500 released asylum seekers per week, whom the county shelters and feeds as they make their way to their next destination. The Pima County Health Department is also trying to adapt to the funding shift and is looking to fill 19 temporary positions to help with emergency health screenings.

(January 8) Funding for asylum seekers is up for a vote by the Pima County Board of Supervisors. The supervisors are going to consider an additional $2.7 million to shelter asylum seekers who test positive for COVID. The county first contracted with two hotel chains in late 2021 and the total value of the contracts now stands at about $19 million. That money doesn’t come from county taxpayers. The county used to depend solely on federal dollars, but they now can use state funds from Arizona’s Immigrant Emergency Care and Testing grant. Tuesday’s vote also will show which way the board as a whole is headed. The supervisors, except lone Republican Steve Christy, routinely approve spending money to support asylum seekers. But in October, former Supervisor Sharon Bronson said the supervisors had become “enablers” and the Biden administration had bungled border policy. That made it a precarious 3-2 vote. Bronson resigned in November and her replacement, Sylvia Lee, will get the chance to weigh in after she takes the oath of office on Tuesday. Every penny counts as local officials deal with thousands of asylum seekers released by federal border officials every week. (Tucson Agenda)