ARIZONA NEWS

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

May 11, 2023, 7:00 PM | Updated: May 12, 2023, 3:09 pm

Immigrants seeking asylum, who were apprehended at the time Title 42 expire, board a bus to a U.S. Border Patrol processing center, after crossing into Arizona from Mexico, on May 11, 2023 in Yuma, Arizona. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Immigrants seeking asylum in the United States who were apprehended at the time Title 42 expired, are processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents after crossing into Arizona from Mexico, on May 11, 2023 in Yuma, Arizona. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Immigrants seeking asylum, who were apprehended at the time Title 42 expired, are processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents, after crossing into Arizona from Mexico, on May 11, 2023 in Yuma, Arizona. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) A Peruvian mother holds her two-year-old child as she waits to the processed by the U.S. Border Patrol with other immigrants seeking asylum in the United States, shortly after Title 42 expired, after crossing into Arizona from Mexico on May 11, 2023 in Yuma, Arizona. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Immigrants seeking asylum, wait to board a bus to a U.S. Border Patrol processing center, after crossing into Arizona from Mexico, on May 11, 2023 in Yuma, Arizona. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Standing amidst exhaust fumes from a Border Patrol bus, immigrants seeking asylum in the United States are processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents after crossing into Arizona from Mexico, on May 11, 2023 in Yuma, Arizona. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Immigrants seeking asylum, who were apprehended at the time Title 42 expired are processed, by U.S. Border Patrol agents, after crossing into Arizona from Mexico, on May 11, 2023 in Yuma, Arizona. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Immigrants seeking asylum, who were apprehended at the time Title 42 expired are processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents, after crossing into Arizona from Mexico, on May 11, 2023 in Yuma, Arizona. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

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