Pima County officials hope โ but arenโt certain โ the federal government will continue to fund programs that provide services to asylum seekers, which are now costing about $1.3 million per month here.
โThe funds are good through February, and we have a real reason to believe they may continue to March,โ said acting County Administrator Jan Lesher. โI donโt know what happens after that.โ
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, has awarded the county $7.9 million since the beginning of 2021 from its Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which Congress funded primarily through the American Rescue Plan COVID relief package, passed last year.
The county used more than $5.56 million last year in federal funds on humanitarian aid to migrants. The city of Tucson spent $1.5 million on food, shelter and transportation, and was also reimbursed through the Emergency Food and Shelter Program.
FEMA awarded $110 million to the program in March of 2021 for humanitarian assistance to migrants. When Congress passed a continuing resolution, in December, to fund federal programs, that humanitarian assistance was not renewed, leaving grantees of the program wondering whether theyโll be able to continue support to this vulnerable population.
Stakeholders hope to see more funding in the anticipated 2022 omnibus spending bill. Earlier this month, both of Arizonaโs U.S. senators signed onto a letter asking congressional leaders to ensure that funding is included.
โArizonaโs border communities and nonprofits serve on the front lines of the migrant crisis, and the federal government must step up and secure the border, keep Arizona communities secure, and treat migrants fairly and humanely,โ said Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who is chair of the Senate Government Operations and Border Management Subcommittee, in a prepared statement Wednesday.
Why this time is different
For the last year, Pima County has had larger numbers of asylum seekers released to the county, currently at an average of 140 people a day.
This isnโt the first time the county has seen such spikes, but this time is different because of the pandemic and there is no end in sight to increased numbers of people needing assistance.
โWe have not seen any indication that the Department of Homeland Security plans to stop bringing people to our community,โ Lesher said. โSo hopefully the funding will continue.โ
The Border Patrol releases some migrants seeking asylum who just crossed the border to nonprofits, which provide food, shelter, transportation and other services for a short time until the individuals and families head to their sponsors all across the country.
From March 2021 through this January, there were about 24,240 people seeking asylum released to the Casa Alitas Welcome Center, which is run by Catholic Community Services and contracted by the county to provide humanitarian aid to migrants.
The ongoing pandemic means the center has a smaller capacity and migrants who test positive for COVID require a longer stay and a place to isolate. About 3% of the migrants test positive, which was nearly 500 people since last July, but their families who have been exposed need to isolate as well.
The county contracts with hotels for rooms for people who need to isolate, as well as for families and individuals to stay in when Casa Alitas is beyond capacity. The hotel rooms are the most expensive part of the operation, making up nearly 63% of expenses.
Other expenses include food, transportation, medical care, COVID testing and COVID vaccinations.
โWe have been very diligent about reaching out to federal programs to see what funding is available to pay for these programs so that itโs not borne by the Pima County taxpayers,โ Lesher said. โTo the extent that the individuals here are also federal taxpayers, that may be the case, but itโs not their Pima County tax dollars that are funding the program.โ
Another increasing challenge over the past six months has been the large variation in the number of individuals arriving daily, which ranged from three to 344 per day in December alone.
The varying numbers of people makes it logistically hard to plan things like how many hotel rooms the county needs to purchase, how many meals to purchase, how many vehicles are needed for transportation. As well, they donโt know the size of the families that will arrive, which factors into what type of accommodations they need to secure.
โWe have to provide food whether weโre serving 500 people three meals a day plus snacks and outbound travel food supplies, or whether we have 80 people,โ said Teresa Cavendish, director of operations for Catholic Community Services. โAnd so trying to ramp up fast enough to accommodate folks if thereโs a sudden shift in the dynamics of folks that are coming, that can be a challenge.โ
In December the weekly numbers increased from 472 up to 1,252 on New Yearโs Day. This had a ripple effect in transportation, COVID testing, medical support for those who were COVID-positive, COVID vaccinations and non-congregate sheltering. The last few weeks the numbers have dropped back to about 140 a day.
Itโs common that Pima County receives asylum seekers from Yuma, and one of the reasons numbers spiked is because the Yuma Sector became a โhot spotโ for border crossers for a short time in December.
Also, there were a couple of weeks recently when migrants were being sent to Tucson from the Border Patrolโs El Paso Sector, which can happen when one region is overwhelmed with more people than it can process and provide services to.
During that time, there were fewer migrants coming through the Yuma region, so Casa Alitas had the capacity to take in asylum seekers from El Paso, Cavendish said.
โSometimes when that occurs, (Customs and Border Protection) in Tucson is called upon to do what itโs required to do, and thereโs not always a consideration for what the shelter capacity in that community is going to be,โ she said. โIn this case everything balanced out really well.โ
The capacity at the Welcome Center is a little over 100, but with the other locations Catholic Community Services and the county are operating, theyโve provided overnight shelter for more than 500 people in the recent past.
The county block rents hotel rooms for a discounted rate at specific hotels. One of the hotels where asylum seekers who are COVID-negative stay is the Comfort Suites where the county also houses recently evicted families who need temporary housing.
โThis is the county being placed in a position of having to respond to a federal problem,โ Lesher said. โAnd really, while weโre picking things up in the community, it is the federal government that really is responsible for the program.โ
Preparing for the worst
County officials have begun discussions with Catholic Community Services about when they will need to start making changes in the way they provide services. While the county officials have a good relationship with FEMA, even they donโt know if theyโll get the money in time, Lesher said.
โWe need to start figuring out those next steps because we do not have at this point general fund allocation to provide these services, and we donโt need Catholic Community Services to be caught flat-footed with all of the services that they provide,โ she said.
FEMA did not respond to a request for comment.
Catholic Community Services is looking for other funding options, but prior to the federal funding source, the organization was extremely limited in the services it could provide, Cavendish said.
Another COVID complication is that Catholic Community Services has fewer volunteers and must use more paid staffers. Pima County has also rented out an entire hotel with 80 rooms for those who are COVID-positive, which is expensive. It would be very unlikely it could continue this level of services with only money the nonprofit could raise, Cavendish said.
โI think itโs a concern for all of the border shelters that FEMA is not going to get the appropriations that they need in order to provide the continued funding,โ she said. โI think everyoneโs concerned, including FEMA, that theyโre not going to be able to do this. So weโre all trying to figure out what we do if thereโs even a gap in funding.โ
