No plans to stop immigrant drop-offs in Arizona, including a spike in unaccompanied minors
Jun 6, 2014, 4:17 PM | Updated: 4:31 pm
PHOENIX — A day after it was believed DHS would stop transporting migrant families from Texas to Arizona, a spokesman for Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer says that is not the case.
Andrew Wilder tells KTAR they expect the drop-offs and transporting to continue.
“The State of Arizona connected and spoke with federal officials this afternoon and got information from DHS, FEMA, ICE, both locally and nationally that contradicts that information.”
Wilder said ICE has no immediate plans to stop the operation in the foreseeable future. He also disputed reports there were no unaccompanied minors arriving in the state.
“Today alone, June 6, 432 unaccompanied minors are being transported and arriving in Arizona,” Wilder said. “Tomorrow, June 7, [there will be] 367.”
The DHS began transporting hundreds of undocumented immigrants from southern Texas to Arizona over the Memorial Day weekend and then releasing them at Greyhound bus stations in Tucson and Phoenix.
DHS officials say the U.S. Border Patrol didn’t have the manpower to handle a surge in immigrants from Central America crossing the border illegally in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer sent a letter Monday to President Barack Obama, saying she was alarmed that federal officials didn’t notify state and local law enforcement.
