A government contract that gives certain migrant families hotel rooms in Arizona was driven by a change in the demographics of who comes to the U.S.-Mexico border.
For years, Central American families and children traveling alone have been outnumbering single Mexican men.
In 2018, when migrant families were being released by the busload in metro Phoenix, churches were the first local responders.
But volume proved too high and a shelter opened because of a nonprofit-led effort.
Now millions of federal dollars are flowing to a group named Endeavors so it can put migrant families in hotel rooms, until they can join relatives or friends.
“This appears to be an effort to bring federal resources and more structure,” said Mark Greenberg, senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington D.C.
Greenberg said it’s key for the government to create a new approach for handling migrant families allowed to live in the U.S. while their court case goes forward.
The federal contract that pays for hotel rooms ends in September.
