Tucson has 10 days left to prepare for an immigration challenge of federal proportions on a municipal budget.
As federal funding for managing the flow of people seeking asylum dwindles, Tucson leaders are in limbo — waiting to see if Congress will renew the millions of dollars necessary to address a humanitarian crisis in Southern Arizona.
“The bottom line is that we don’t know what’s going to happen April 1,” said City Manager Michael Ortega at a council study session Tuesday.
Mayor Regina Romero said the situation is unpredictable and she continues speaking with local, state and federal leaders to prepare for what’s to come.
“We are sounding the alarm bells at every level of government,” she said.
This was the last council meeting before Congress decides whether to include funds in this year’s budget bills to help local communities temporarily shelter and transport asylum-seekers. It’s also the last meeting before current funding runs out on March 31.
On Thursday, congressional leaders were moving closer to a trillion dollar fiscal package that could save Southern Arizona’s shelter and services program but the deal had yet to pass a deeply-divided House and Senate. The amount included in the package was $650 million, notably less than the $752 million requested by local, state and congressional leaders.
Pima County needs at least $12 million to manage local shelters and services, as it can cost up to $1 million a week during “peak surges,” said county spokesperson Mark Evans. “Less than that may mean it’s too little to continue operations,” he said.
Evans said a year’s worth of funding, which would help with staffing and operations, is about $48 million.
“We don’t know whether it’s going to be enough to meet the needs established to keep going,” he said. “But we know there’s money on the table now.”
Southern Arizona is seeing a larger number of migrants and people seeking asylum than any other region along the U.S.-México border.
U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson sector had the highest number of migrants crossing in the U.S. — 250,611 — from October through January. That’s about 50% more than the Del Rio sector in Texas and nearly 110% more than the San Diego sector in California, the regions with the next largest share of crossings, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics.
Since 2019, Pima County has partnered with Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona to provide shelter, transportation, food and medical care to asylum-seekers. Migrants are legally processed at the U.S. border and are brought to the Casa Alitas Welcome Center for about 48 hours before moving on to parts of the country where they have family or support. The program has been funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher said in February that the county cannot afford to take on the costs locally to shelter and serve asylum-seekers at Casa Alitas, which has aided more than 400,000 people over the past five years.
Arizona senators Mark Kelly, a Democrat, and Kyrsten Sinema, an independent, wrote a letter on Feb. 27 to U.S. Senate and House appropriations committee leaders, requesting at least $752 million in FEMA funds for communities to address the thousands of people seeking asylum and “to avoid a catastrophic situation.”
The funds would go to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Shelter and Services Program “to reimburse local governments and nongovernmental organizations for providing humanitarian services that assist in the decompression of CBP’s holding facilities.”
In fiscal year 2023, Congress dedicated $800 million for these services, according to the senators’ letter. Kelly and Sinema stressed that Arizona’s portion of that funding is nearly depleted.
“Without this funding, border communities like those in Arizona will continue to be forced to manage a crisis they did not create, and to make impossible choices about whether to provide critical services to residents or manage the fallout of the border crisis,” they wrote.
Gov. Katie Hobbs backed Kelly and Sinema’s request in a March 12 letter criticizing federal leaders’ lack of response.
“Without additional support, critical services could be compromised, placing both migrants and local residents at risk,” Hobbs wrote. “It is unacceptable that the security of everyday Arizonans has taken a backseat to political games in Washington, DC, forcing working families in my state to bear the burden of congressional inaction.”
Federal appropriations committee leaders have until March 22 to add the $752 million to the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill, according to a memo from Ortega to the mayor and council. In February, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators presented a sweeping border bill that included $1 billion for the shelter and services program. The bill failed to pass the chamber with the large majority of Republicans voting against the measure.
“This is a federal problem that does not have a federal solution,” Ortega said at Tuesday’s council study session. “The lack of a federal solution means that the local governments are forced to deal with this situation.”
Early Thursday, congressional leaders rolled out a $1.2 trillion spending package they are working to pass through the Senate and the House swiftly enough to avoid a partial government shutdown after midnight Saturday. A battle over border-related funding held up negotiations. However, the current version of the bill includes funding for border security and humanitarian assistance through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Shelter and Services Program, according to a statement Thursday by the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations.
It’s unclear, if approved, how much of this federal funding would trickle down to Arizona.
“Importantly, the bill continues funding for humanitarian assistance through CBP’s Shelter and Services Program with $650 million to state and local governments and non-governmental organizations that partner with federal personnel at the border to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance,” according to the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations. “Up to an additional $2.2 billion is available to ensure that asylum seekers are processed quickly, ports and other border facilities are not overcrowded, and Border Patrol has the tools it needs to improve border security. The bill also provides $16 million for child well-being professionals, who are operating at CBP facilities to provide care for children trafficked by TCOs. Additionally, the bill provides ICE and CBP additional resources to provide medical services to individuals in custody.”
Arizona Luminaria reached out to Romero’s office for a response on whether a lower appropriation — $650 million vs. $752 million — would be sufficient to ease the flow of migrants and asylum-seekers in Tucson.
“There’s relief to be honest with you that there’s some funds there,” Romero said. But the reduction from their original request, she said, is disappointing.
“Unfortunately there’s a 20% cut, which doesn’t help because I know there’s communities across the country that need the assistance,” she said.
The local team is working on developing a plan to tide the county over until the funds become available, she said.
“It takes some time to get to the ground, so we have to discuss how to proceed in the immediate,” Romero said. Even then, she added, this is a temporary triage solution to the country’s broken immigration system.
“The reality of it is that we’re going to go round and round and round in circles with this particular dilemma if there’s no comprehensive immigration reform package,” she said.
Ortega and the city’s emergency response manager, Savannah Martinez, are continuing to work with Pima County on a plan to handle the sudden loss of funds. This includes help from the county’s health department to manage a regional crisis.
Romero said she’s asking Gov. Hobbs for logistical support as Tucson is not the only community that will be impacted if the federal government doesn’t step up.
“I believe that the governor will need to help us logistically because it’s not just Tucson saying what’s going to happen. It’s Somerton. It’s Yuma. It’s Douglas. It’s Nogales,” the mayor said. “And these are Arizona cities that need a coordinated approach by our state.”
However, Romero said, the ultimate responsibility is with the federal government. Vice Mayor Kevin Dahl, of Ward 3, agreed.
“The federal government can’t get their act together and dump this in our lap, and it makes me mad,” Dahl said.
Ortega and the city’s emergency response team are focused on creating a plan to minimize the time asylum-seekers’ stay in Tucson by helping them get to their next destination as easily as possible.
“I’ve said this before and I will continue to suggest that we need to move folks out quickly,” Ortega said.
People seeking asylum end up in Tucson after they’re processed in other locations along the border, though it’s often not their final destination. Rather, they’re trying to go elsewhere via airplane, bus or other modes of transportation.
“These are human beings. They’re legally here,” Dahl said. “It’s not hordes invading us. There are people who have support elsewhere in the country. They just need some help getting to where they’re going.”
Romero said migrants rarely spend more than 24-72 hours in Tucson. Ortega and Martinez said that without federal funding support for the local shelter and transit program, routing people to Phoenix is a preferable option as the state capital has more resources as well as cheaper, more accessible airfare and transportation options.
Ortega told council members that they’re waiting for Congress to finalize appropriations bills. Even if congressional leaders move to include the local funds, he doesn’t know how soon the allocations will be available to communities.
“Will the bureaucracy at the federal government move fast enough to be able to deploy those dollars before March 31?” Ortega said.
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