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Harris will campaign on Arizona’s border with Mexico in attempted show of strength on immigration

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by Zeke Miller and Colleen Long
Associated Press
September 25, 2024
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris will visit the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona on Friday as her campaign tries to turn the larger issue of immigration from a liability into a strength and hopes to counter a line of frequent, searing political attacks from former President Donald Trump.

Her campaign announced Wednesday that Harris will be in Douglas, Arizona, across the border from Agua Prieta, Mexico.

A Harris aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a trip that was still being planned, said the vice president plans to speak about border security and how, as a former attorney general of California, she took on international gangs and criminal organizations who traffic drugs, guns, and human beings. She also has long believed that the country needs an immigration system that is secure, fair, orderly and humane, the aide said.

Trump has built his campaign partly around calling for cracking down on immigration and the southern border, even endorsing using police and the military to carry out mass deportations should he be elected in November. Harris has increasingly tried to seize on the issue and turn it back against her opponent, though polls show voters continue to trust Trump more on it…

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https://apnews.com

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Concerns linger after gunfire damages Arizona Democratic campaign office

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by Gabriel Sandoval and Walter Berry
Associated Press
September 25, 2024

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TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Police were posted outside a Democratic Party campaign office in a quiet suburban strip mall in the Phoenix area Wednesday after two shootings at the office door and windows over the past week.

Tempe police have yet to identify suspects or a motive, but questions are swirling as party workers worry about their safety.

Political violence already has marred this year’s campaign season, with former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, being targeted by two assassination attempts — one at a campaign rally and the other at a Florida golf course.

Acknowledging repeated threats, the U.S. House voted just last week to require the U.S. Secret Service to use the same standards when assigning agents to major presidential candidates as they do presidents and vice presidents.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, will be making a campaign swing through the Southwestern U.S. over the weekend with stops near the Arizona border on Friday and in the swing state of Nevada on Sunday.

Lindsay Bailey was expecting to pick up a Harris yard sign when she and her 17-year-old daughter visited the campaign office in Tempe on Wednesday. The office was empty and its front windows were perforated with bullet holes.

“There’s a major division within this country, and it’s scary,” said Bailey, a 47-year-old nurse.

Tempe police are investigating the damage at the strip mall as a property crime. Once home to a barber shop, the campaign office is near a daycare and a fitness center.

In the first shooting on Sept. 16, authorities reported that pellet or BB gun rounds hit the office. As with the gunfire reported Sept. 23, no one was inside the building at the time and there were no injuries, said Sgt. Ryan Cook, a spokesman for the Tempe Police Department.

The Tempe location is one of 18 Harris field offices in Arizona.

The current political climate worries Alexis Maher, 29, who works at a nearby home furnishing store.

“It just leads me to think that if something doesn’t go the way that those people want it to go that this election season is going to be kind of scary,” Maher said.

Detectives are analyzing evidence collected from the scene, and Cook said “additional measures” were being taken to ensure the safety of staff and others in the area.

Cook said police are investigating “all possible motives.” He didn’t provide any more details about the type of weapon used in the second shooting or whether there might have been security camera footage from either of the two nights at issue.

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https://apnews.com

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ariz. gets $55m for migrant border aid

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FEMA to award grants to local communities

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by Rafael Carranza

The Arizona Republic

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Nonprofits and local governments in Arizona will receive more than $54 million to continue providing humanitarian assistance to migrants released at the state’s border with Mexico, the federal government announced Friday, April 12.

The funding is part of the Shelter and Services Program, which is jointly administered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Congress replenished the program in March, when they allocated $650 million as part of a supplemental funding package passed to avoid a government shutdown.

FEMA will award the grants to local communities in two separate rounds. The first round announced on Friday totaled about $300 million. The second round will be awarded in a new competitive process by the end of September, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The four states along the U.S.-Mexico border are slated to get more than half of the funding from the first round. Texas will receive $62.4 million, Arizona $54.6 million, California $45.2 million and New Mexico $4.1 million.

The rest of the funding will go to communities in the interior of the country, which have also been struggling to accommodate and assist large numbers of migrants and asylum seekers arriving to their cities. Some of the biggest recipients in the interior include New York City, which will get $38.9 million, and Atlanta, which will get $10.1 million.

Nonprofits and local governments in Arizona faced a March 31 financial cliff that threatened to upend a system they developed to prevent having the border officials release migrants into the streets of border communities in southern Arizona.

Pima County, which is the fiscal agency that distributes funding to nonprofits and local governments in southern Arizona, will receive $21.8 million of the funds allocated to the state. The county ran out of funds to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants on March 31, but said this funding announcement will cover retroactive costs for expenses incurred over the past two weeks.

“The size of this award is an acknowledgment by the Biden Administration of the benefit that our coalition provides to the country and the people of Arizona, Pima County and Tucson. Easing suffering, facilitating travel, and protecting the health and welfare of our border-county communities is a win for everyone,” Adelita Grijalva, the chair of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, said in a written statement.

“This funding gives us the breathing room to work towards a better solution that, at the very least, will relieve local governments of the burden of mitigating the effects of federal border control and immigration policy,” she added.

In addition to Pima County, other local governments and nonprofits in Arizona will receive large awards. Maricopa County will get $11.6 million, World Hunger Ecumenical Arizona Task Force in Maricopa County will also receive $11.6 million, while World Hunger Ecumenical Arizona Task Force in Yuma County will receive $9.5 million.

The funding allocated for Fiscal Year 2024 is less than the $780 million set aside for local governments and nonprofits providing humanitarian assistance in 2023. That year, FEMA awarded a bulk of the funding to communities in the interior of the country.

Arizona lawmakers pressed FEMA and Customs and Border Protection to prioritize border communities when determining how to distribute the money, and to get it communities quickly.

Arizona’s independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly released a joint statement praising Friday’s announcement. The two senators led efforts to secure federal funding since large-scale migrant releases began in Arizona in 2018.

“Arizona’s local governments and nonprofits are on the frontlines doing the vital work that keeps asylum seekers and communities safe, and this funding will help them continue operations and support our border communities,” Kelly said.

“Today’s funds will help Arizona border nonprofits keep their doors open preventing street releases and providing humane treatment of migrants seeking asylum,” Sinema added.

Arizona’s Democratic delegation in the House also welcomed Friday’s announcement, touting changes they advocated for such as acceptable error rates in data reporting for A-numbers, which prevented nonprofits and local governments from expensing all eligible costs for reimbursement.

“This funding couldn’t come soon enough,” Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., said. “I’ve visited local aid groups along the border, and they’re near a breaking point.”

Another notable change removes caps on non-congregate shelter like hotels or transportation, which nonprofits argued made it harder to respond to changing flows on the ground and limited their flexibility to respond.

“The funds announced today are needed to help our border communities manage the crisis at the border, and I won’t stop pushing the administration to prioritize Arizona,” Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who represents nearly all of Arizona’s communities along the border with Mexico, said that while the funding was welcomed, it was not a permanent fix to a federal issue.

“It’s clear that the only path forward to address these issues long-term is real immigration reform to fix our broken system beginning with humane solutions, increased legal pathways, dealing with root causes, and providing more resources and personnel at the border instead of Republicans’ detrimental funding cuts and failed enforcementonly policies,” Grijalva said.

In the past year, the number of migrants crossing through the Arizona border increased dramatically, with the state once again becoming the busiest crossing corridor along the southern

U.S. border with Mexico. The number of apprehensions in Arizona has been dropping week over week, though they typically rise during the summer.

The increase has continued to strain the capacity of border and immigration holding facilities in Arizona. As a result, Customs and Border Protection has been coordinating with nonprofits and local governments to drop off migrants at designated sites after they’ve been legally processed and cleared for release into the country under parole.

In Arizona, CBP has been releasing migrants in Yuma, Tucson, Nogales and Douglas. State and local governments coordinate with nonprofits like Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona, the Regional Center for Border Health and the International Rescue Committee to transport migrants from small communities to larger cities like Tucson and Phoenix.

The humanitarian assistance includes housing, food, medical screenings, and transportation. The majority of migrants released will not stay in Arizona, and instead have relatives and sponsor buy plane or bus tickets to go elsewhere in the United States.

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art ~ our lady of the wall ~ brandon maldonado

https://brandonmaldonado.art/#/nuestra-sra-del-muro/

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old timer chronicle editor ~ rawclyde!

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arizona’s $752 million wanna-be bill

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Aliss Higham

Newsweek

3/14/2024

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Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has asked the federal government for $752 million to pay for migrant services and shelters.

In a letter sent to the Senate and House Appropriations Committees, Hobbs, a Democrat, requested the sum be paid to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Shelter and Services Program, with the funding requested from the Homeland Security appropriations bill. The program helps nonfederal organizations assist migrants released from the custody of the Department of Homeland Security.

In the letter, Hobbs wrote that services in her state were “on the brink of operational limitations,” and that without the funding “critical services could be compromised.” The requested funding would be used not only for Arizona but also to aid with the migrant crisis across the U.S.-Mexico border. Newsweek has contacted Hobbs for comment via email outside of normal working hours.

Arizona is among the states on the U.S.-Mexico border that have struggled with an influx of migrants attempting to cross in recent months. Illegal crossings surged at the end of 2023, with border officials reporting a record high of 250,000. In January, 176,205 encounters were recorded, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement.

“I write to you today with a sense of urgency on behalf of the people of Arizona,” Hobbs wrote in the letter, dated March 12. “As Governor, it is my duty to ensure the safety and well-being of our communities, especially in the face of challenges posed by border security.”

She also said the funding included provisions needed to tackle drug trafficking and increase the presence of border personnel along the southern border.

In a press release issued on March 13, Hobbs said: “My state has done everything possible to deliver safety and security to those communities, but we need Congress to step up and do its job.

“It is unacceptable that the security of everyday Arizonans has taken a backseat to political games in Washington, DC, forcing working families in my state to bear the burden of congressional inaction. It’s time to prioritize practical solutions over political maneuvers.”

Leaders in Arizona have said they hope lawmakers listen to the funding plea, with Yuma Police Chief Thomas Garrity saying border communities in his county, where part of the U.S.-Mexico border is located, are often forgotten.

He told Fox 10: “I hope that Washington just listens to what we here on the border need. Sometimes we’re forgotten. You hear about San Diego, you hear about Tucson, you hear about Eagle Pass, but they forget about that here in Yuma. We face this every day.

“For us and the border patrol to be able to process the people coming through there in a timely manner, these funds would help greatly.”

“With the beginning of the end of federal funding without a continuing resolution or approved budget, it could cause dramatic issues with our nonprofits,” Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls told the outlet.

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arizona’s democratic governor vetoes bill approved by gop-led legislature

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anonymous

Associated Press

March 5, 2024

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PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona bill that would have made it a crime for noncitizens to enter the state through Mexico at any location other than a port of entry has been vetoed by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.

The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the measure late last month along party lines. Arizona has emerged as a popular illegal border crossing point, and the bill would have let local law enforcement arrest non-U.S. citizens who enter Arizona from anywhere but a lawful entrance point. A violation would be a top-tier misdemeanor – or a low-level felony for a second offense.

In a letter to Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen on Monday, Hobbs said the measure raised constitutional concerns and was expected to lead to costly litigation.

“This bill does not secure our border, will be harmful for communities and businesses in our state, and burdensome for law enforcement personnel and the state judicial system,” Hobbs wrote.

welcome, pilgrims, to yo’ dream tent

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by james gilbert

yuma sun

june 29, 2019

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The Yuma Sector Border Patrol unveiled a massive tent facility within the compound at the Yuma Station recently that will be used to process and house the unprecedented number of migrant families and unaccompanied children still arriving at the U.S./Mexico border.

“We have Border Patrol facilities that can handle processing and detention, but they are inadequate for this population and the amount of people that we are seeing,” Chief Patrol Agent, Yuma Border Patrol Sector, Anthony J. Porvaznik said in reference to the three stations within the sector. “This new facility is CBP’s commitment to bringing better conditions and more humane treatment to people that are taken into our custody.”

Porvaznik explained that the Yuma Sector, which secures 126 miles of U.S. border from the Imperial Sand Dunes in California to the Yuma-Pima County line, has been operating over capacity because so many migrants are entering the country illegally, turning themselves in to agents and asking for asylum.

The temporary tent facility, which is designed to hold up to 500 migrants, is weatherproofed and climate-controlled and will serve as holding facilities for parents with their children until they are transferred to ICE — or in the case of unaccompanied children, the Department of Health and Human Services — hopefully within 72 hours.

“Overall, this is just a much better space for Border Patrol agents to do their jobs,” Porvaznik said. “It’s also a much safer environment for the children in our custody until we can get them transferred.”

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Border Patrol agents guided members of the media through two of the multiple large “soft-sided” structures, one of which had dozens of mats used for sleeping piled up along one side. a guard shack in the center and a large screen TV connected to a DVD player.

Deputy Patrol Agent in Charge Humberto Guerra, who gave one of the guided tours, explained that there are four tents meant to house 125 migrants each. They are cleaned after each use and large enough for each person inside to have 60 square feet of space.

Another of the tents shown to media was the processing center, which featured several rows of benches, tables filled with computers and other electronic equipment, a row of refrigerators for water and other food items and an area with shelves of storage bins containing new clothing such as socks and underwear, nonperishable snacks and other hygiene supplies.

Upon entering the tent, all of which had fabricated flooring, agent Guerra pointed to a partitioned off area where medical personnel would screen migrants injuries and illnesses, explaining that it is also where every detainee’s intake will be conducted, which included running a records check, conducting interviews and entering their personal information.

Guerra also said the tent has separate shower sections for both men and women, each with multiple stalls, chemical toilets, baby-changing tables and sinks. Two additional trailers, filled with giant washing machines and dryers, will serve as laundry rooms. There were also baby cribs being stored nearby.

Porvaznik said while contract staff will do all the cleaning, laundry, meal preparation, assist with providing security around the premises, and maintenance, only Border Patrol agents will have direct contact with the detainee population.

“To do all the work that is needed we are hiring in the neighborhood of 180 people,” Porvaznik said. “Those are local jobs in the community that pay $18 an hour.”

To deal with the continuous overcrowding occurring within the Yuma Sector, the Border Patrol had to expand into a building and a partially outdoor area within its compound on Avenue A, by converting them into a makeshift detention area and a holding space.

The soft-sided facilities will remain in use as long as the migrant crisis continues along the border.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuma_Sun

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