Biden's Build Back Better Plan for America

3/24/21: By ANITA SNOW: PHOENIX (AP) — A small town in Arizona has declared a state of emergency over migrant families being dropped there as a growing number of border communities grapple with how to get the new arrivals to shelters in bigger cities that can help them. 

The situation simmering in Gila Bend and other communities near Arizona’s border with Mexico comes as much larger groups of asylum seekers and unaccompanied minors show up. 

Gila Bend Mayor Chris Riggs announced his emergency declaration Tuesday, saying the town does not have the resources or funds to support migrants, many who arrive with hopes of seeking asylum and making their home in America. 

Gila Bend, with a population of 2,000, does not have a hospital or shelter. It is 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of the U.S.-Mexico border and about 60 miles (95 kilometers) southwest of Phoenix.

“To drop people in basically the middle of nowhere, it’s 30 miles to the next type of town, and that’s 30 miles of open desert. So especially come July and August, we’re going to be finding bodies,” Riggs said. The increase in arrivals has prompted Republicans to criticize President Joe Biden’s handling of border security following four years of hardline immigration policies under his predecessor Donald Trump. 

Customs and Border Protection over the past month has also released hundreds of asylum seekers in the border city of Yuma, which has no shelter or nonprofit groups to help migrants arrange travel to relatives elsewhere in the U.S. to await their court dates. Mayor Douglas Nicholls has been pushing federal officials for a solution.