Local opinion: Casa Alitas: Migrants’ stepping stone to their sponsors

I am a volunteer at Casa Alitas, providing humanitarian aid to migrants (referred to as guests at Casa Alitas) seeking asylum. They have been processed by Customs and Border Patrol and have documentation of their destination and court date along with their sponsor/family member’s name. These individuals are legally within the U.S. when they arrive at Casa Alitas.

When they come through the door at Casa Alitas, they are welcomed with kindness and compassion. My role is to help find and provide clean clothes for the next leg of their journey to their sponsor. I serve infants through adults. And most importantly, provide a compassionate smile, kind words and willingness to make a moment in time as uplifting as possible. I served a family of eight last week from Senegal. In addition to the parents, I needed to find clothes for children ranging in age of 10 months to 18 years. The clothes are all donations. Families are anxious to get out of the clothes that remind them of the long and trying journeys to reach America. We provide new underwear, socks and toiletries in addition to donated, gently used clothing.

Later that day, this family of eight from Senegal was on a plane to their sponsor’s home.

Imagine if you are this family on July 1. You are going to be dropped on a corner in a foreign country, you don’t understand the language, your phone is dead, you need a bathroom, there are no stores, restaurants or hotels within sight, and you have six children from the age of 10 months to 18 years, plus your spouse with you. You are hungry, tired and powerless. Imagine.

Here at the southern border of Arizona, we have an onslaught of asylum seekers whom Casa Alitas will no longer be able to serve due to the defeat of the Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024 (H.R. 815).

Casa Alitas runs out of ALL federal, county, and city grant funds effective July 2024. Sadly, this means street releases of 500 people a day in Tucson beginning July 1.

This is a time to come together to keep a necessary service in place for the guests of Casa Alitas and for the residents of Tucson.

Casa Alitas received a reprieve from the government to last until June 30.

PLEASE, Governor Hobbs, Senator Mark Kelly, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Rep. Juan Ciscomani, and Tucson City Council, can you do SOMETHING to keep Casa Alitas afloat?

If there is ANYTHING you can do to help prevent street releases of these vulnerable families on July 1 please contact:

Diego Pina Lopez, Director of Casa Alitas, contact information: email diegol@ccs-soaz.org

Financial donations can be made at casaalitas.org/financial-donation