'Migrant' Shelters Close in Arizona Just Days After Trump's Inauguration
Although President Donald Trump has been in office less than a week, his immigration policies are already having an impact in Arizona.
Two shelters in Pima County that served migrants who were claiming asylum under Biden administration rules will be shut down, County Administrator Jan Lesher said Thursday, according to the Arizona Daily Star.
One shelter had a capacity of 650 beds; the other 140 beds. One was run by AMI Expeditionary Healthcare, a for-proift group; the other by Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona, a not-for-profit
Lesher said that no migrants had been sent from the Border Patrol to those shelters since Trump took office Monday.
“This puts the County in a very precarious financial position,” Lesher wrote in a memo to the county’s Board of Supervisors. The memo was issued Thursday, just days after Trump was inaugurated on Monday.
The memo added: “Whether there are people under shelter or not, the County still incurs operational costs from its contractors for staffing readiness, shelter amenity rentals (such as the portable showers), heating and cooling costs, and more.”
The shelters plan to close on Jan. 26.
Pima County Board of Supervisors Chair Rex Scott said that the federal government will not pay for costs unless the shelters are being occupied.
“We can’t bill the federal government for the reimbursement of our costs if we don’t have anybody in the shelter,” Scott said, according to KOLD-TV.
Since 2019, the centers have served more than 518,000 migrants who were released into Cochise, Santa Cruz, and Pima counties by the Department of Homeland Security, according to KGUN-TV.
In that time, more than $117 million in federal funds has gone to Pima County to operate the shelters.
The tri-county region had a population of 1,236,960 people based on 2023 Census estimates for Pima County (1,063,162); Santa Cruz County (49,158) and Cochise County (124,640).
That would mean that if the migrants released into the area all remained in the county, the ratio of migrants to the overall population would be 1:2.38.
The Trump administration has arrested more than 450 illegal immigrants in its initial deportation raids, according to Fox News.
Border Czar Tom Homan said initial efforts will target public safety threats.
“Right out of the gate it’s public safety threats, those who are in the country illegally that have been convicted, arrested for serious crime,” he said.
“But let me be clear. There’s not only public safety threats that will be arrested, because in sanctuary cities, we’re not allowed to get that public safety threat in the jail, which means we got to go to the neighborhood and find him,” Homan added.
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