In Nogales, Arizona, humanitarian groups are racing to ensure that people on the move have access to services and essential transportation so they can reach shelter and service providers after beginning the asylum process. Previously, federal emergency funds were used to offer humanitarian services and to transport asylum-seekers to shelters throughout Arizona, including Tucson and Phoenix. With funding running out and no federal movement, border communities, churches, and humanitarian organizations are doing everything they can to step in. People in Tucson and Nogales, including government officials, have collaborated to make sure migrants get transportation to humanitarian organizations, but they cannot do so forever with limited resources. Once again, border communities have demonstrated they want to welcome people on the move, they simply need the federal government to do its part by providing the resources to make sure they can.
In Nogales, an asylum bottleneck forces a choice: Monthslong wait or dangerous desert crossing
“‘It is totally a lack of transparency, a lack of accountability,’ De Velasco said of the management of the list.
[The] Biden administration’s policies making people wait in México is a violation of U.S. law, according to a 2021 ruling in federal court. That ruling prohibited what is frequently called ‘metering’ or ‘queue management’ — regulating by a list who is allowed to approach a port to ask for asylum, and when they are allowed to do so.”
The US has created an untenable, harrowing situation for people on the move. We call upon the Biden Administration to simply uphold its own laws and ensure that people have a chance to begin the asylum process without having to navigate bias, corruption, and monthslong waits in Nogales that expose them to grave danger.
Executive Director, Joanna Williams, joined bishops and church officials on both sides of the border in calling for an immediate effort to create bipartisan, humane, and workable migration policy. Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, said, “Instead of using immigration as a political issue, they should show their statesmanship and find humane and workable solutions which serve both the interests of our nation and those who seek to migrate here.”
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