Las Cruces OK's half-million dollars to cover humanitarian assistance for migrants

LAS CRUCES - At a special meeting of the Las Cruces City Council on Thursday afternoon, councilors approved a $500,000 budget adjustment to cover the cost of humanitarian assistance for asylum-seeking immigrants being dropped off in the city.

In addition, the city council appointed Bill Struder acting city manager after the resignation earlier this week of City Manager Stuart Ed. Struder will serve while the city conducts an executive search for Ed's successor.

Migrants have been transferred to Las Cruces by the U.S. Border Patrol since April 12. The agency has said its resources have been over-extended by a recent surge in migrants seeking asylum at the United States-Mexico border. 

The city had approved $75,000 on April 15 to help the migrants, who are housed temporarily in the city before moving to sponsors elsewhere in the country.

The daily arrivals continued, however, taxing local non-governmental organizations and volunteers providing help. 

Assistant City Manager David Dollahon told the city council that the Border Patrol has released an average of 100 to 200 migrants into the city daily, "with no end in sight indicated to us." 

Anticipating the arrivals may increase and/or be sustained for a period of time, Dollahon said the $500,000 was a "broad estimate" and a cap for the city's costs in providing assistance through June 30, which ends the 2019 fiscal year.

The money will be transferred from the city's Telshor Facility fund — a pool of money originating from the city and county's lease of Memorial Medical Center to a private company in the mid-2000s — to its Health Services fund, covering the aggregate expenses of the entire effort. 

The transfer leaves the Telshor fund with an adjusted balance of $33.5 million.

Dollahon said the projects costs may include transportation expenses to help asylees reach other communities that have agreed to help, such as the city of Albuquerque, but that arrangement was still being deliberated. During the past week, Mayor Ken Miyagishima has proposed a rotating effort with other cities. 

Dollahon also announced that Struder negotiated a short-term lease on Wednesday to provide relief to the Gospel Rescue Mission and the Community of Hope, which have been accommodating the surprise influx of migrants since April 12.

The Gospel Rescue Mission said Thursday it would scale back its immigrant assistance efforts.

The city will lease for 60 days the former federal Army Reserve building at 1300 Brown Road, currently owned by the Holy Ghost Ministries. Dollahon said the building was undergoing inspection and preparations to accommodate migrant arrivals by 2 p.m. on Friday.

Meanwhile, he said Gospel Rescue Mission has offered to continue sheltering up to 40 migrants daily during the week beyond the weekend. Casa de Peregrinos will continue to assist with food distribution, but will no longer offer its warehouse as sheltering space.

Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonActor on Twitter.