TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Pima County just approved more than $330,000 to lease a large building to house immigrants. It will be used to put more migrant services under one roof.
The plan spends taxpayer money but it’s Federal money from FEMA, and the County is careful to say the shelter is not for illegal immigrants. It’s for people allowed to enter legally while the government considers whether to grant them asylum.
Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement bring people to the shelter at Casa Alitas. They are people allowed to legally be in the U.S. while judges decide if they should be granted asylum because of dangers in their home countries.
The system is designed for asylum seekers to stay in shelters for maybe two or three days while they arrange transportation to pre-approved families in other cities where they will stay while their cases are considered.
The Casa Alitas shelter has filled up the space the county allotted in vacant parts of the Juvenile Detention Center so the County used FEMA money to rent hotel rooms for overflow.
The County says FEMA wants to consolidate shelters in single facilities. The county sometimes calls them “Big Box” shelters. So the County Supervisors just voted four to one to lease space in a former call center on Drexel, west of I-19.
District Four Supervisor Steve Christy was the no vote. He was skeptical about several parts of the plan including a lease only six months long.
He asked: “So this facility will replace other shelters like the red roof in the JOT Properties and Comfort Suites?
County Administrator Jan Lesher said: “Supervisor Christie, that is correct.”
Christy: “And this is you say the future but it's only for six months.”
County Administrator Jan Lesher says the lease can be extended but the County’s only committing to six months because the County wants to be sure the Federal money will keep coming in.
“We don't feel it’s responsible to continue to have leases and agreements of a long term nature, if we do not feel comfortable knowing that there's Federal funder available.”
The County says it may be a month and a half to two months before the building is ready for people to stay there.
The leased building is in the District for Supervisor Adelita Grijalva. She’s concerned because the county did not talk about the shelter with neighborhood groups nearby. There are no homes next to the facility but it is near a shopping mall and a campus for Pima Community College.
County staff says it will talk with neighborhood groups about any concerns they may have.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
