Local and state governments at the border are weighing the use of taxpayer funds to help manage the ongoing release of migrant families.
TUCSON — The space the Kino Events Center occupies once was a local YMCA, which closed about two years ago.The court is lined with numbered green cots, 119 total, provided by the Salvation Army. Each has a towel neatly folded on top.
Those are among the latest examples of local governments along the U.S.-Mexico border stepping in to fill a void in order to address an issue they considered to be the responsibility of the federal government. But the move was met with immediate backlash from angry residents, illustrating the challenges and balancing act many of these border communities must face: how to cope with the sustained release of migrant families in their area, while providing some much-needed relief and assistance to overstretched nonprofits bearing the brunt of the humanitarian response.
McAllen has had little choice but to take a leading role, working directly with nonprofit groups and spending thousands of its taxpayer dollars along the way. During a surge in the arrival of thousands of unaccompanied minors that started in 2014, Rodriguez said the city submitted $580,000 in reimbursements to the federal government. They ended up getting back only $140,000. "We are talking to our congressman now, we're talking to our U.S. senators now, about what were experiencing because we don't want anybody to be surprised," Rodriguez said.
Earlier this year, the municipal and county governments allocated $20,000 each, which will be matched by nonprofits, to fund a volunteer coordinator position to help the Annunciation House. "It's definitely a demand on our resources and our community," Keller said. "And while El Paso is a very generous and responsive community, it's definitely something that we'll have to address ... and come up with a plan to be responsive in a longer term sense."
“They sent down a team of staff," he added."Early in the days, there were upwards of 15 state workers who helped us run the shelter." The San Diego mayor's office helped coordinate weekly meetings to get things going. That has eventually turned into a formal working group that meets on a monthly basis.
Dr. Francisco Garcia, Pima County's assistant county administrator for health services, said the kind of issues they see with migrant families are what they typically would see in other young populations. Push back from community residentsThe financial investments made by city, county and state governments are not without criticism, especially given the contentious nature of the topic and the polarity in the debate over immigration.
The special meeting reflected the opposition Las Cruces and other border communities are facing and will continue to face as they weigh allocating additional resources and funds to help migrant families. Miyagishima downplayed the idea that the city was using taxpayer money on migrant families, insisting that the $500,000 came from funds a private company paid the city for leasing a medical center.
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