Arizona started busing migrants from Yuma to Washington, D.C. this week, mimicking a controversial plan piloted by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last month that federal officials have criticized for inhibiting immigration proceedings.
Arizona’s moving of migrants didn’t come with the fanfare that accompanied the action in the Lone Star State, however.
Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s office revealed the transportation program Wednesday in a single paragraph of a press release focused on Ducey’s request to social media companies to block online ads used to recruit citizens to transport migrants.
“With Arizona community resources under all-time demand, and little action or assistance from the federal government, individuals who entered Arizona seeking asylum have the opportunity to voluntarily be transported to Washington, D.C.,” the release notes. “The transportation will include meals, and onboard staffing and support.”
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By the time that release came out, the first state-funded bus of migrants had already arrived in the nation’s capital, according to the Governor’s Office.
Ducey’s spokesman, C.J. Karamargin, confirmed that the first bus carrying 20 asylum seekers left Yuma on Monday. More trips will follow, and they amount to the latest in a series of efforts Ducey has undertaken targeting the Biden administration for what the governor calls inaction at the border.
“This is an issue created by the federal government’s failure to deal with the problem, and Arizona communities are paying the price,” Karamargin said, speaking of overburdened community service organizations. “If the president is not going to come to Arizona to address the crisis then we feel the need to act here.”
The program: What is known so far
Some facets of Arizona’s new migrant transportation program depend on demand. Karamargin could not provide details of how much the trips will cost the state, saying it would depend on how many people want to participate. The state will cover the costs up front but seek reimbursement from the White House, Karamargin said.
The state is planning for two to three trips per week depending on participation rates, he said, and is contracting with AMI Expeditionary Healthcare, a health care support company headquartered in Virginia, to provide and staff the buses.
Early last month, Abbott, also a Republican, announced a similar program. It came in response to the Biden administration’s plan to lift Title 42, a public health policy invoked by President Donald Trump that allowed the government to turn away many asylum seekers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Biden’s effort to lift Title 42, and opposition to it from Republicans and some swing-state Democrats, is a major issue for GOP candidates in this year’s midterm elections.
Ducey for his part has called lifting Title 42 a “huge mistake,” and later unveiled an American Governors’ Border Strike Force — a collaboration with Abbott and 24 other Republican governors to share intelligence to combat drug and border-related crime. Ducey said at the time the strike force would “do what the federal government won’t: secure the southern border.”
That came after Abbott declared in early April the state of Texas would send troopers in riot gear to meet migrants at the border and take them to the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Afterward, Abbott’s administration clarified the program would be voluntary.
A week later, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus lobbed a critique of Abbott for not communicating with federal officials before the state moved people subject to immigration enforcement proceedings. Magnus, the former police chief in Tucson, has led the border patrol since December after he was nominated by President Joe Biden.
Karamargin said border protection officials were aware of Ducey’s transportation program, but he did not know if the governor spoke about the state’s plans during a Wednesday morning meeting with Magnus in Washington, D.C.
Arizona’s quiet rollout of the program is distinct from Texas’ tumultuous debut. The Ducey administration stressed that migrants who board the buses will only do so voluntarily, and that resources will be available on the road, including paramedics who can respond to any emergencies. The state’s program supplements transportation services for asylum seekers that are already provided by a web of non-government organizations and nonprofits.
Arizona’s Department of Emergency and Military Affairs is leading the new program and working with the Regional Center for Border Health in Yuma, the leading nonprofit that works with asylum seekers there. Center Executive Director and CEO Amanda Aguirre, a former state lawmaker, welcomed Arizona’s new program.
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“We’re very glad to be collaborating with the Arizona Department of Emergency and the Governor’s Office that provided assistance to us as we prepare for a large surge of people (at the border), and the potential releases in the street,” Aguirre said.
Individuals on the first bus were from Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Haiti, Peru, Venezuela and Uzbekistan, and they were ultimately going to Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, Virginia, Maine and New Jersey, according to the Governor’s Office.
Of those 20 people, most were connected with families after they arrived in Washington, D.C., or continued traveling, and just four were placed in shelters, according to Aguirre. A second bus left Yuma on Wednesday afternoon, she said.
Border politics as a midterm issue
Asked why the Governor’s Office didn’t previously announce the bus trips, Karamargin said Ducey wanted to avoid a “spectacle.”
“We’re not about spectacles,” Karamargin said. “We have a goal here, and that is to alleviate the burden on our communities and to work to get these people who are seeking asylum closer to where they want to be.”
But Ducey’s plan was immediately questioned by some, who said the governor continued to inject politics into a humanitarian crisis at the state’s southern border.
“A bus load of immigrants is more of a PR stunt than pushing the federal government to invest more, and send more help, shift resources from other places,” said Marco López, the former mayor of Nogales who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor.
“It distracts from a real solution, and it doesn’t provide what we need to see at our border,” said López, who previously served as chief of staff within U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the Obama administration.
Another leading organization that aids asylum seekers — the International Rescue Committee, or IRC — has seen an increase in need since the beginning of 2021. Alex Miller, director for asylum seekers and families at the IRC in Arizona, said too little information was available from Ducey’s office to gauge his motivation for the program.
“It’s incredibly important that the community and local governments step up and respond to the needs of asylum seekers, and I think the governor’s statement indicates that there are resources to do so, and resources that could be invested with within our own community,” Miller said. “Arizonans time and time again have have demonstrated a willingness to support asylum seekers and people in need. And it would be incredible to see those resources in-state.”
Reach reporter Stacey Barchenger at stacey.barchenger@arizonarepublic.com or 480-416-5669. Follow her on Twitter @sbarchenger.
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