Yuma mayor asks President Biden for declaration of emergency amid Title 42 end

PHOENIX — Yuma mayor Douglas Nicholls wrote a letter to President Joe Biden on Thursday, urging him to declare a national state of emergency due to Title 42 ending.

Nicholls asks Biden to enact the emergency under Title 50 to “protect American communities that are subject to detrimental impacts.”

Nicholls has been representing Yuma for nine years and the current surge in migration is greater in both numbers and duration than ever before.

He declared a local emergency on Dec. 15, 2021, and additionally, the state emergency enacted under previous Gov. Doug Ducey is still in place today.

“A state of emergency for our nation is dire and opens numerous immediate actions that will address the very real need for personnel and resources in Yuma. A full response by FEMA and the National Guard becomes possible,” Nicholls said in the letter.

“That would entail the deployment of FEMA personnel to establish transportation facilities for released migrants and aid from the National Guard to support the full mission of the Border Patrol to transport migrants to nonprofits in communities with more robust transportation and nonprofit options as allowed under Title 32.”

Nicholls claimed Yuma and its residents have fallen victim to the cartels, leading to exploitation, abuse, rape and neglect of migrants.

He pled to Biden to not release any migrants into communities with fewer than one million residents.

Nicholls’ temporary plan was to bring in immigration judges to the communities or via video conferences to remotely hear cases.

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