AZMEX I3 23-10-18

AZMEX I3 23 OCT 2018


Note: local interest mostly. Video, etc. at link.
Thx


Homeland Security buses nearly 100 asylum seekers to Phoenix church
Carissa Planalp
Updated 11 hrs ago | Posted on Oct 22, 2018

https://www.azfamily.com/news/homeland-security-buses-nearly-asylum-seekers-to-phoenix-church/article_4590520e-d672-11e8-9188-df926ad4d84d.html

An east Phoenix church is helping near 100 asylum seekers.

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - Nearly 100 asylum seekers were dropped off at the Monte Vista Baptist Church in east Phoenix Monday.

According to Pastor Elizabeth Cruz, the federal government called the church a couple weeks ago asking for help because they could not legally hold the families any longer.

Pastor Cruz said 98 adults and children stepped off Department of Homeland Security buses
with paperwork in hand and wearing ID bracelets.
Church volunteers fed the families, provided clean clothes and medication if they were sick.

[RELATED: ICE ending practice of coordinating plans for asylum-seeking families in Arizona]


"Instead of releasing them to the bus station, to the airport, they are releasing them to the churches," said Pastor Cruz.

From there, Cruz said, the families will connect with host families in their journey to reach relatives they can stay with long term.
Once settled in, the migrants are expected to attend their immigration hearings.

ICE spokeswoman Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe confirmed the families were dropped off but she was unable to say how many.
O'Keefe also says not all families released from custody are asylum seekers.

[RELATED: Arizona authorities free migrant families from detention]

"This is a refugee crisis," said Pastor Cruz. "The majority are from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras."

Cruz said nearly 600 asylum seekers have been transported to churches across the Valley in recent weeks.

[RELATED: ICE drops off hundreds of asylum seekers at Phoenix-area churches]

Most of them, Cruz said, arrive wearing ankle bracelets for electronic monitoring,
but the group that showed up on Monday was not wearing the devices.
Cruz believes the feds ran out of the ankle bracelets as the government manages an overwhelming number of immigrants.

When asked if families requesting asylum are supposed to be fitted with ankle bracelets,
O'Keefe said in an email it's "case by case."

Pastor Cruz said she doesn't want to get political. She says her church only wants to help where it can.

"Jesus told us as you do unto them you do unto me," said Cruz.
"So we're just being Jesus and let the government be the government and fix whatever they have to fix."

Cruz said the church is always in need of host families as well as monetary donations.
Anyone who wishes to contribute can contact the Monte Vista Baptist Church at 480-274-8975.

End