Nicholls hopes it brings federal response, resources
Noting that the city doesn’t have the resources to handle the “overwhelming” number of migrants being released into Yuma, Mayor Doug Nicholls declared an emergency Tuesday afternoon.
The majority of migrants are families seeking asylum in the United States after fleeing poverty and gang violence in Central America.
Nicholls signed a proclamation of emergency at 3:10 p.m., which he hopes will bring attention to the “dire urgency of the situation” and some kind of relief, possibly from the federal government in the form of a FEMA-type of response, along with federal funding and resources.
The proclamation notes that a “humanitarian crisis” is being caused by the “mass release of migrant families from federal detention into the City of Yuma without provisions of adequate food, water, shelter and medical care,” which could cause “injury, damage and suffering to persons and property” in the city, county or state.
The proclamation implements the City Emergency Operations Plan and notes that “emergency management measures are required to reduce the severity of the local emergency, receive available aid, and to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people and property” of Yuma.
The document indicates that the situation exceeds the city’s services, personnel, equipment and facilities and requires the “combined efforts, cooperation and resources” of the Yuma community, including local and national nonprofit agencies such as churches, the Red Cross, Catholic Community Services, The Salvation Army, Yuma Community Food Bank, Yuma County, the state of Arizona and the United States of America.
The emergency declaration provides “a way to express the dire urgency of the situation to the rest of the country who don’t live it day to day and are not experiencing people that are being released into their community,” Nicholls said.
The mayor noted that the migrants being housed in the shelter network run by local nonprofits has “far exceeded the capacity” even as families are being transported out of the community. He explained that the migrants, who are all families that have passed health and criminal checks, “are looking to go to their host families. They aren’t looking to stay in Yuma.”
The current system is set up to handle 150 people with a maximum capacity of 200. On Tuesday morning, Nicholls got a call telling him that the shelter had reached 200 people. Later the same day he received more calls from the Border Patrol officials telling him that another 220 people would be released.
“The numbers … are substantial and I don’t see that letting off soon. As a matter of fact, today I was informed they had over 950 people in detention and their facility tops out at 420 on real capacity,” Nicholls said.
He explained that the Yuma network is concerned about meeting the basic human needs of the migrants “when there’s no more capacity in our local nonprofits.”
With the proclamation, he is “looking to have the federal government step in to help resolve the situation in a couple ways, either through transportation options into other communities that actually provide relief to the numbers coming into Yuma or bringing in a FEMA-type response to our community so FEMA and the federal government in their response could address the situation.”
The solution is not in setting up more shelters, he said. “The issue is not just having a building, we could have lots of buildings. But the people or the resources to staff those buildings are just not there. The community of our size just doesn’t have enough resources to meet that demand in a continual flow of people.”
He said that in the last 19 days more than 1,300 migrants come through the shelter, “and I only see it increasing faster and faster. So putting up more shelters is not the answer. There needs to be a systematic change to the way the system is currently being operated. That’s really what needs to happen. Getting into the shelter business as a city or as a community isn’t going to solve the issue. It’s only going to make a bigger backlog.”
By hitting overcapacity, the city and its partners have entered “new territory” and need to figure out what to do until help arrives, he added. The city and the local nonprofits are mulling ways to provide resources for those who can’t be accommodated in the shelter system.
“To be honest, right now we don’t have those answers,” Nicholls said.
However, he explained that “new partners” and “regional resources from around the country” have entered the discussion with “transportation options” that might move migrants “more efficiently” to their ultimate destinations. In addition, a truckload of perishable and nonperishable items for the relief effort arrived in Yuma on Tuesday.
Nicholls noted that citizens are responding in two ways, either with empathy and wanting to help or by getting upset at the situation. For those who want to help, the city and nonprofits will release information on needed donated items, how they can help volunteers and what resources would help.
“Those who are upset at the situation, I agree,” Nicholls said. “But protesting at the shelter, causing bigger situations at the shelter, are not going to solve the problem. They will only make it look worse. So I fully encourage those that want to express that to do that but do that appropriately through our senators, representatives, the President, Department of Homeland Security, maybe even the governor and some of our state representatives to see what kind of pressure we can apply to the federal system in order to, one, get the voices heard for the people but also, two, get actual resources and solutions in place.”
The mayor stressed that the migrants are not dangerous. “At this point there’s no evident danger to anybody. Anyone who is being released is looking to leave town,” Nicholls said, adding that migrants are not being dropped at random locations.
Nevertheless, he noted that law enforcement, including the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office and Yuma Police Department, are looking at the public safety aspect.
STATE OFFICIALS RESPOND
Several state officials have responded to the migrant releases occurring in Yuma.
“We will review any declaration once we receive it,” said Patrick Ptak, spokesperson for Gov. Doug Ducey. “Ultimately, this humanitarian crisis is the result of Congress’ failure to act. It will only be solved by Congress actually doing something, and the governor has vocally urged Congress to quit playing politics and take action.” Ptak said the governor’s office was working to ensure proper coordination between ICE officials and groups providing temporary services to migrants.
“The federal government’s continued lack of border security, its inability to provide timely asylum processing, and the Border Patrol’s policy of releasing migrants into communities has created a humanitarian crisis in border cities,” Rep. Tim Dunn said.
“The Department of Justice should immediately provide judges to accurately determine who is deserving of asylum. The current message to the world is that if you illegally cross our border, you can stay. This is a message that Americans do not tolerate. The local nonprofit organizations are overburdened, and we need resources from the federal government to assist in this federally created crisis,” Dunn added.
“It’s unfortunate that this emergency declaration is necessary,” Rep. Joanne Osborne said. “The federal government has created a humanitarian crisis that has put both border communities and migrants in a terrible situation. I applaud the community in Yuma for doing everything they can to address this crisis, and I urge the federal government to secure the border and provide border communities with sufficient judges to handle the influx of asylum seekers.”
“A secure border and a functional asylum process means safety and security on both sides of the border,” Sen. Sine Kerr said. “Yuma has had a history of success in border management when Operation Streamline was fully funded. Given adequate federal resources, Yuma has proven that it knows what it takes to secure the border. I call on Congress to provide Yuma and other border communities with the adequate federal resources necessary to cope with this crisis. Border communities should not have to shoulder this burden alone, as it is a federal responsibility to effectively manage our immigration and asylum process.”