Nearly two months after a locally-funded immigrant pleasant core closed,$ 19.6 million in federal funding for asylum applicants is headed to San Diego County.
Through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Shelter and Services Program, which provides funding for support services for immigrants, the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to deliver$ 300 million in grants to communities across the country on Friday.
According to DHS, San Diego County is one of the 55 consumers who will be receiving the award money.
Nora Vargas, chairwoman of the board of supervisors, confirmed in a statement that the state’s funds from the plan will go toward building a” sustainable, federally funded migrant change center” to assist asylum seekers traveling to their final destination and prevent road releases.
After weeks of hard lobbying for cash, the federal government has allocated$ 19.6 million to help the thousands of asylum-seekers who are crossing our border, Vargas said.
I look forward to working with our colleagues to improve these crucial federal funds for our place as we learn more about the money in the upcoming days and weeks.
Following the site’s early closure after four months in operation due to the lack of funds, the Board of Supervisors voted 4 to 1 to seek reviving the immigrant intermediate center using federal funds. The only dissenter in the voting was officer Jim Desmond.
The delightful center received$ 6 million in state money between its opening in October 2023 and its closing in February 2024.
After processing, migrants were brought to the centre by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, where they were finally connected to sources like food, shelter, or go assistance.
Border Patrol has since resumed its so-called” city releases,” which involve dropping thousands of migrants off at different travel points without any guidance or assistance in order to get them to their final destination.
Migrants have been causing confusion with these streets releases, and aid organizations have been frantically trying to bridge the gap left by the intermediate center’s closure.
” State, including California, continue to see significant amounts of migrant encounters at our southern border. In a letter from February asking for federal funding for immigrant service, California Senator Laphonza Butler wrote that the situation “appears to be even more pressing this week.”
Without the assistance this transitory service could have provided, Border Patrol will now be forced to release an estimated 800 to 1000 workers a moment without simple humanitarian assistance or arrangement at local transport stations, she said.
It is not known at this time when the money will be ready to be used for the immigrant center. The$ 300 million will be distributed in two allocations, with the first being$ 275 million, and the second being$ 25 million later this year to “accommodate evolving operational requirements.”
