Arizona border towns' migrant services funding is shrinking. What that means for communities

Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this article incorrectly identified the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs.

NOGALES — The bus pulled into the narrow parking lot on a sunny but cold morning.

The U.S. Border Patrol bus stopped behind a similar white coach bus and opened its doors behind the Pimeria Alta Historical Society Museum in Nogales. A line of migrants stepped off one bus, grabbed their bags and boarded the other bus.

The line of people was composed of families and single adults who came from Senegal, Guatemala, Venezuela, India, Russia and Mexico. The number of people who arrive can range from 50 to 700 per day.

The buses will take people to shelters in Tucson or Phoenix where they can then catch flights to their final destinations around the country.

Sobeira Castro, Santa Cruz County emergency management director, watched the transfer from a couple of feet away. Castro has been spearheading the response in Santa Cruz County since Border Patrol shifted their releasing pattern in September 2023.

The process is smooth, but delicate.

Unsheltered street releases have so far been avoided in Arizona but the ability to manage and transport people from small border communities to their final destinations is a day-to-day feat. It’s a daily calculation of arrivals, transportation resources and shelter capacity.

Any increase in the number of migrants arriving along the Arizona-Mexico border could exhaust the comprehensive humanitarian system in place to help migrants and avoid unsheltered releases.

About 45,308 single adults and family members were released in Nogales from September to December, according to a Pima County situational report. Another 4,598 were released in Douglas and Naco during the same time.

Funding transition poses obstacles to communities

In 2023, the process was mostly funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program. Toward the end of the year, Pima County began the transition to the new federal Shelter and Services Program funding model, which saddles nonprofits and local agencies with tighter restrictions on what the money can be used for.

Under the program, the number of people allowed to be housed per night is reduced from more than 1,000 to a maximum of 750. The number of hotel/motel rooms covered by the program is reduced from 380 rooms to 64 a night.

It also puts caps on transportation. Under the new funding model, small communities such as Nogales and Douglas will have fewer resources to move people out of their communities. Santa Cruz County asked the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs to supplement their transportation resources because of the new restrictions.

The Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs is providing an average of 14 buses a day to help transport migrants in southern Arizona, according to Judy Kioski, public information officer with the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs. But during the peak of community releases, that number was as high as 24 buses daily.

“Over reliance on single source government funding to address the needs of newly arriving migrants creates a vulnerability in the long term sustainability of humanitarian operations,” Kioski said in a written statement.

Under the new restrictions, Castro is more worried about sheltering capacity rather than transportation resources. If every shelter is at capacity then it won’t matter how many buses there are because no one can receive any more migrants. But in March, the program's funding also will run out, reducing even further the capacity of nonprofits to take in migrants at larger cities like Tucson or Phoenix.

“Our worry is not transportation," Castro said. “Our worry is that we make sure that the shelters have capacity to receive these individuals.”

If shelters reach capacity or don't have the space to take them in, there will be unsheltered street releases in Nogales, Castro said.

Pima County officials warned that federal funds will lapse on March 31. The depletion of money could cause the program to buckle, leading to unsheltered street releases in other border communities throughout southern Arizona.

In January, the Biden administration allowed Pima County to fully use its remaining 2022 Emergency Food and Shelter Program funds. But that was only a temporary solution.

For many local officials, it’s not a matter of if but when unsheltered street releases will begin in Arizona. In Nogales, a community with insufficient sheltering space, migrants will have to remain on the streets.

“It will happen,” Castro said. “We will get the unsheltered releases and it will be in every single city within every single state.”

Restrictions, funding strain border communities

Castro and her department for years have been transporting migrants from the Nogales Border Patrol station, one of the largest in Arizona, to Tucson and Phoenix.

In September, the transfer process was moved out into public view.

On Sept. 13, 2023, the Border Patrol reached a point of overcapacity in their facilities and they stopped waiting for state- and county-funded buses before releasing migrants into border communities.

Street releases first began in Bisbee, Douglas, Naco, Nogales and Casa Grande — all four smaller communities near Border Patrol stations that process migrants — from sunrise to sunset with many local officials being given short to no notice about the releases. The shift led to the erratic release of handfuls of migrants every few hours with little information about next steps.

About 95% of the people who Castro encounters in Nogales do not want to stay in Arizona, she estimated. The state is often only a stop on people’s journey as they attempt to reach their final destinations elsewhere.

In December, Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., asked National Guard leadership about the possibility of using a National Guard armory in Douglas as an emergency migrant shelter. The location would temporarily house migrants during sharp increases in migrant arrivals.

“It makes natural sense, a National Guard building that's not being utilized right now to be able to house some of the situation that they have created through this, I'll be frank, lack of plan,” Douglas Mayor Donald Huish said.

Migrants were staying overnight in Douglas in December as the city struggled to receive enough buses to transport people out of the community. Churches have stepped up to shelter migrants overnight but there is only so much space available.

Other cities, even bigger ones such as Tucson, are considering their options. City leaders have proposed, for example, housing released migrants at the Davis Monthan Air Force Base, which is near the Border Patrol headquarters.

“It is the concern because, at this point in time, there's no end in sight,” Huish said.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona border communities worry about large scale migrant releases