Border Crisis: Impact of Title 42 Termination on Arizona
Phoenix, AZ— Border Security Alliance President Jobe Dickinson issued the following statement regarding the planned termination of Title 42 and the impact it will have on Arizona communities and law enforcement:
“Title 42 has been in place since 2020 as a mitigation strategy during the global COVID-19 pandemic. While it was never meant to be a permanent fix to border security, it has been heavily relied upon for nearly 3 years due to the lack of resources and staffing along the border.
“With the forthcoming termination of this policy, the Border Security Alliance believes there could be another surge of illegal immigrants who will take advantage of our flawed border policies. We urge policy makers to work to fix the current and anticipated surge immediately by going back to a ‘Remain in Mexico’ program for asylum seekers. Further, we believe there should be a broader look at our legal immigration policies for a long-term solution. Our local communities and law enforcement cannot handle additional large migrant caravans entering our communities without any federal mitigation policies.”
Background on Border Crisis:
· In FY2022 there was an all-time high 2.3M illegal immigrant encounters along the southern border, increasing from 1.7M in FY2021.
· National drug seizures are down significantly since 2020 but that is not because less drugs are coming across the border. It is because we no longer have the staffing needed to intercept the drugs along the border resulting in police agencies across Arizona, who are also short staffed, engaging in more drug interdiction cases.
· Yuma County recently declared a state of emergency in anticipation of the termination of Title 42 during a public health crisis which includes increased cases of RSV, COVID-19 and the flu.
In Yuma, AZ, hospital costs related to migrants have exceeded $23 million in unreimbursed expenses.
Migrants will call 911 hoping to get first responders or an ambulance to treat them, placing more demand on the system.
There has never been a greater demand placed on local charities and NGOs along the border.
Yuma is seeing around 1,000 migrants per day and expects to see those numbers double (not including those who got away) when Title 42 ends.
This additional strain on border patrol resources will only exasperate human and narcotics trafficking and the border patrol's ability to focus on these criminal activities.
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