County will avoid street releases at the end of the week, anticipating federal funding from the $650 million, in the border security funding bill, for shelter and services to asylum seekers.
Pima County is discontinuing contracts for services to the more than 2,500 asylum seekers a day, who have been released by Border Patrol. Federal dollars are running out as Congress has yet to agree on more funding for border communities.
Republican Supervisor Steve Christy said the decision was “kicking the can down the road,” but the four remaining Democrats say the county needs more information on potential alternatives to incarceration.
Pima County continues to warn of pending street releases if Congress doesn’t allot more money for migrant services, even as officials opened the Lukeville port of entry yesterday due to a drop in unauthorized border crossings outside of ports.
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