PHOENIX — Gov. Katie Hobbs is back from her trip to Washington D.C. where she met with Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas last week.
The feds recently angered local governments in southern Arizona after it reassigned Customs and Border Patrol agents away from ports of entry to handle the processing of asylum seekers. Traffic and congestion at ports built up.
“I shared how frustrated we were that that happened. They are pulling people away from their job to deal with the flow of migrants and we had very little communication about it,” Hobbs said.
Hobbs said she told Mayorkas that Arizona needs more financial support and better cooperation.
“We got a commitment to get more regular communication from his folks with border communities, the sheriffs, the local leaders,” Hobbs said.
Arizona border communities strained by migration
As NBC affiliate KVOA recently reported Santa Cruz County Supervisors sent a letter to President Biden last week asking for $3 million to help accommodate asylum seekers being released on the streets of Nogales.
“Hopefully they can have FEMA come set up some kind of tent,” said Supervisor Manny Ruiz.
Pima County leaders also reported that non-governmental organizations that provide aid to migrants were under strain due to increased demand.
Hobbs directed $25 million of state funds this summer to border communities for the purpose of equipment and technology. She recently announced an additional $10 million to the city of Nogales for communications technology.
Surge of migrants and diverse profiles
Statistics from U.S. Border and Customs shows fiscal year 2023 (which ended in September) saw the second most apprehensions of migrants between ports of entry in more than two decades. Last year that number peaked.
The typical profile of an undocumented immigrant used to be a single man from Mexico, said Muzafar Chishti of the Migration Policy Institute during an interview with C-Span Sunday.
Chishti said now families are coming from all parts of the world and non-Mexican migrants make up the majority. Political upheaval in Venezuela and economic troubles in other parts of the world are motivating migrants to travel to the U.S.
“This is not a rural versus urban problem. This is not a Republican versus Democrat problem. It’s a national problem. And we have to deal with this as a national crisis,” Chishti told C-Span.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement over the weekend echoing a familiar demand. It called for Congress to reform immigration law and asylum policies.
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