In a tweet on Monday, Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls said migrants seeking asylum in the US will be released again in Yuma and San Luis.
Kim Johnson of KAWC spoke to the Mayor about the new releases and how they differ from two years ago …
In a tweet on Monday, Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls said migrants seeking asylum in the US will be released again in Yuma and San Luis.
It was in 2019 when Mayor Nicholls set off the alarm for the release of migrants by declaring an urban emergency.
Nicholls was informed directly by Border Patrol of the release of migrants. It was a continuation of a close relationship between the city and the Yuma Sector Border Police that Nicholls shared with KAWC’s Kim Johnson.
When there are “community critical issues” there is communication to ensure there are no surprises and appropriate resources can be approached.
While the number of releases is nowhere near what the community saw in 2019, Border Patrol has warned the city to prepare for the possibility of long-term local releases.
However, the mayor says COVID-19 did differently here than it did in 2019. The region’s nonprofits were the backbone of the effort then, but now they don’t have the resources to undertake such humanitarian efforts. The mayor says this is partly due to the lack of donations.
Housing large groups of people, as was done two years ago, is challenging in the face of mitigation efforts and housing large groups, Nicholls said.
Mayor Nicholls hopes to release the migrants to shelters in Phoenix and Tucson.
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