Pima County has a robust asylum seeker care program that works with partners across southern Arizona. But the setup of that program is changing slightly starting this month.
For years, Pima County has worked with the nonprofit Catholic Community Services to provide food, transportation help and short-term shelter through its Casa Alitas program in Tucson. Most asylum seekers and migrants released by the Border Patrol in Arizona spend a few days at one of the Casa Alitas shelters, or a hotel set up in coordination with the city of Tucson, before traveling to meet family elsewhere.
But starting this month, a bulk of that work will be shifting to a private contractor called AMI.
“Catholic Community Services is going to focus their energy and effort on the Ajo facility, for women and children, families, where AMI is going to be responsible for single men and the hotels,” Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva said.
The county last received some $22 million in federal funding for the program earlier this year. Grijalva says that money will be divvied up between AMI and Catholic Community Services, and the county will remain the fiscal agent. Grijalva says the change is not expected to drastically shift operations and services.
“Whether it was the NGO or any other vendor, they were essentially a vendor, we would provide them funding for the services that they were providing,” Grijalva said.
Catholic Community Services did not respond to requests for comment, but officials told KVOA the shift would allow the organization to focus on their other programs in southern Arizona, like homelessness and domestic violence initiatives.
