Migrant-aid advocates and officials in Arizona’s border communities are breathing a sigh of relief after Congress renewed federal funding that has been critical to preventing legally processed migrants from being left unsheltered on the streets.
But uncertainty remains over the long-term future of Southern Arizona’s migrant-aid effort.
The short-term nature of the funding infusion means in a few months, the region will likely be facing another funding crisis, said Sobeira Castro, Santa Cruz County’s emergency management director.
“We’re very happy overall, in the sense that we’re able to continue to help the migrants,” she said. “But at the same time, we are worried. … It’s like a sweet-and-sour feeling: Sweet because now we’re able to help; sour because we know there’s not enough money.”
Recently, the number of legally processed migrants released by border agents in the Nogales area has dipped to between 150 and 200 per day, down from about 800 daily, likely due to the cold weather slowing migration south of the border, Castro said.
“It decreased tremendously starting two weeks ago,” Castro said. But the volume of arrivals could surge at any time, she said.
Without continued federal support, and help from Pima County’s migrant shelters run by Casa Alitas, small border communities wouldn’t have the resources or shelter space to handle the influx of migrant arrivals.
Since 2019 Pima County has been coordinating the region’s migrant-aid effort, providing short-term shelter — usually one or two nights — and helping migrants continue quickly to their final destinations.
That coordination was set to end April 1, with the exhaustion of current federal funds, leaving newly arrived migrants — many of whom don’t speak English or Spanish — unsheltered overnight in unfamiliar towns along the border, and on the streets of Tucson.
Pima County leaders announced Monday that the newly approved $650 million in Shelter and Services Program federal funding, to be divided among communities throughout the U.S., would allow the region to prevent those unsheltered releases.
Since the beginning of September, a church-based migrant-aid program in Douglas has served 8,000 migrants on their way to Tucson or Phoenix, before reaching their final destinations, said Daniel Duchon, emergency management director for Cochise County.
Thanks to their work, “in Cochise County, all the street releases were sheltered, or received day respite,” Duchon said. “Nobody was actually on the street overnight.”
Migrants then were able to ride in state-sponsored buses to reach nongovernment organizations or NGOs in Tucson or Phoenix, for help continuing on their journey to reach family or sponsors in the interior of the country.
The faith-based community in Douglas received an outpouring of donations and volunteers to support their work, Duchon said.
“This (effort) received no federal funding. It was 100% donations or in-kind services,” he said.
Looking for savings
Pima County expects to receive at least $12.7 million of the approved Shelter and Services Program funding. That should last at least three months, depending on the volume of migrant arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border.
County Administrator Jan Lesher has directed county staff and Casa Alitas to continue seeking ways to cut costs and find efficiencies, in order to stretch those funds as long as possible.
The cost of serving migrants at Casa Alitas is $1 million per week, when the number of daily arrivals is 1,000 or more. But recently, Casa Alitas has been receiving about half that volume of migrant arrivals, reducing costs.
Casa Alitas director Diego Piña Lopez said the nonprofit program has been looking at ways to reduce meal costs from $5 per meal to $1 per meal, by switching to ramen noodles, fruit and a snack. And so far, guests at Casa Alitas’ shelter seem to enjoy the more affordable food options, he said.
“People actually really like to eat ramen. It’s not necessarily just a college phase,” he said.
Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva said the county is focused on being the best stewards of federal money. But the unpredictability in funding streams, and in the number of daily migrant arrivals at Casa Alitas, make it a challenge to find cost-efficiencies.
“One day it could be 300 (migrant arrivals), or another day 1,200,” she said. “You pay a premium for any organization to be that flexible.”
But the savings are out there: For example, Casa Alitas relies on rented, portable outdoor showers at its Drexel facility, she said.
“I’m asking about whether it makes sense to purchase, versus lease,” Grijalva said. “Whenever we no longer need them for this particular situation, we could always share it with the city of Tucson.”
SSP funding is managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in coordination with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to support public and nongovernmental migrant-aid organizations at the state and local levels.
The funds have allowed Pima County to move legally processed migrants “quickly and efficiently through this community and onward to their final destinations in the interior of the country,” Lesher wrote in a Tuesday memo to the county Board of Supervisors. “This bipartisan achievement championed by many in the Arizona congressional delegation and the governor underscores the critical nature of this federal investment to support of border communities.”
Contracts that were up in the air before the federal funding was assured will soon be brought back before the Board of Supervisors for approval, Lesher wrote in the memo.
“I have sufficient confidence in the federal reassurances of funding that I have directed county staff to work with Catholic Community Services to plan for continued operations at the Ajo and Drexel facilities beyond the end of this month,” Lesher said. “This includes providing notice to supporting contractors and vendors of our need for their continued services.”
Piña Lopez said the scramble to prepare for expected loss of federal funding on April 1, and then receiving more funds at almost the last minute, has been an emotional whirlwind.
“I broke down last night crying” with relief, he said on Tuesday. “At the same time, it’s only three months.”
Casa Alitas is basically operating “paycheck-to-paycheck,” he said, and donations from the public will still be critical for Casa Alitas’ migrant-aid efforts.
“I should be celebrating but at the same time, I have to keep my eyes on the ship and be wary that we’re not out of the storm just yet,” Piña Lopez said. “We should continue to hope that we see funding that not only lasts us for three months, but that lasts us for a lot longer than that.”
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