Gov. Katie Hobbs announces expanded migrant bus routes ahead of Title 42's end
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TUCSON — Arizona has established five new bus routes to transport migrants from small border communities to Tucson ahead of the expected lifting of a controversial border restriction this week, Gov. Katie Hobbs announced Tuesday.
The state established the routes Monday to avoid migrant street releases in communities that lack the infrastructure to care for and transport migrants to larger cities. The routes run from Douglas, Naco and Nogales to the Casa Alitas migrant shelter in Tucson.
The Border Patrol notified the communities about the need for migrant transportation to avoid street releases over the weekend, said Allen Clark, director of the Arizona Division of Emergency Management. The state is gearing up for more routes as needed, he added.
“These activities will happen on a rolling basis throughout the state to ensure we have a safe, humane and orderly lifting,” Hobbs said of the new bus routes.
Casa Alitas has received about 300 migrants daily from the small border communities since the routes were established Monday, according to Casa Alitas Executive Director Teresa Cavendish. The figure comes on top of the number of people that the organization already receives from the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector.
“That's a substantial increase,” Cavendish said.
The state’s Border Security Fund can make $7 million “immediately available” to scale up transportation, shelter and public safety operations, Hobbs said. The governor's team is working to find any additional sources of money to help local governments during the lifting of Title 42.
Title 42 was first enacted under the Trump administration in March 2020 to allow border officials to rapidly expel most migrants seeking asylum. The Biden administration has continued to use the restriction as a way to manage migrant encounters along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The restriction has bottled up thousands of migrants in Mexican border communities where they are exposed to dangerous conditions. U.S. officials are estimating that daily migrant encounters along the southern border could rise to 10,000 per day when Title 42 sunsets.
Title 42 is expected to end at 8:59 p.m. Thursday.
Arizona's plan: How will state respond to Title 42's end? Hobbs gives preview; many questions remain
Hobbs, a Democrat, spoke in front of a tent full of migrants waiting to be welcomed to Casa Alitas’ Drexel Center in Tucson. The migrant shelter is at capacity with roughly 600 to 650 migrants passing daily through the facility, according to Cavendish.
The Casa Alitas Welcome Center receives migrants who are released by Border Patrol or Immigration and Customs Enforcement and helps arrange transportation for them to their final destinations around the country.
Roughly 1,200 people are circulating through Casa Alitas’ six facilities at any given time, Cavendish said. While they're at capacity, the organization has been able to work with the city and the county to “nudge up” the level of shelter space that they’re able to provide at the moment, she added.
“It's kind of like an accordion, but it's like an accordion that has a definite limit on how far it can expand,” Cavendish said.
The capacity for Casa Alitas to continue to serve migrants at these levels while avoiding street releases in Arizona communities will depend on the number of migrant encounters that are seen after Title 42 ends, Cavendish said.
“We could have street releases as early as later this week or we could be able to push them off for a little bit longer,” Cavendish said.
The “enormous” resources that have been developed to help migrants may not be sufficient to help the number of people who will be arriving at Casa Alitas in need of assistance once Title 42 expires, Cavendish added.
Casa Alitas has seen an increase in the number of people it serves over the past couple of months, Cavendish said.
Hobbs visited Tucson to meet with local and nonprofit leaders two days before Title 42, the pandemic-era border restriction, is expected to expire. Hobbs expressed frustration over a lack of communication with the Border Patrol about where it is dropping migrants off as the state works to avoid street releases.
Tucson Border Patrol chief: Border Patrol as prepared as it can be for border restriction's end
John Modlin, chief patrol agent of the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, said the agency is as prepared as it can be for the expiration of Title 42 during a border safety event on Monday. Still, Modlin described the end of the restriction as “concerning” and said Border Patrol facilities are at capacity.
The Border Patrol has not yet shared its preparations for the lifting of Title 42 with her office, Hobbs said.
“(The Border Patrol) might think they have a plan, but they have not communicated that plan to us,” Hobbs said. “I would love to hear what their plan is, but we have not heard that yet.”
For the past three years, the federal government has used Title 42 as a temporary solution to a permanent problem. May 11th, that will come to an end. That’s why today I am announcing the State of Arizona’s Title 42 Preparedness Approach. ⬇️ 1/7
— Governor Katie Hobbs (@GovernorHobbs) May 9, 2023
Hobbs’ visit comes a day after Hobbs teased the state’s five-pronged approach to the end of Title 42 during a news conference on Monday.
Concrete details of the plan, however, were sparse.
“The state stands prepared to scale up its transportation, shelter and public safety activities to meet the needs on the ground,” Hobbs said Tuesday.
“We're trying to make sure that we have everything in place to address all of the issues that are going to come from lifting Title 42.”
Congressional reaction: No one in Arizona's congressional delegation is optimistic about what comes after Title 42
Hobbs’ approach revolves around public safety, emergency shelter, executive action, transportation and partnerships.
Hobbs announced the creation of a joint information command center to prepare for the expected increase in migrant encounters following the restriction’s lifting Thursday night. The joint center will allow federal agencies, local governments, tribal communities and nongovernmental organizations to communicate.
The various entities can raise concerns, share updates and coordinate responses through the new command center.
Hobbs visited Nogales alongside Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in March to announce an operation to interdict more fentanyl at Arizona’s ports of entry. Earlier that month, Hobbs visited Somerton to tour the Regional Center for Border Health, the nonprofit leading migrant aid in Yuma County.
Have a news tip or story idea about the border and its communities? Contact the reporter at josecastaneda@arizonarepublic.com or connect with him on Twitter @joseicastaneda.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Hobbs: Migrant bus routes, $7M part of AZ response to Title 42's end
