Phoenix Area Aid Groups Do Test Run Of Day Shelter For Migrant Families
Download mp3 (1.31 MB)Groups helping migrant families released in the Phoenix area by immigration authorities joined forces on Friday to do a test run of a temporary day shelter, where they took in about 130 people.
Migrant families sat at round tables with blue clothes inside a cafeteria run by The Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
“Right now this is just one day of a trial,” said Jessica Berg, chief program manager.
In another room, staff for the International Rescue Committee in Phoenix called migrants’ relatives to make travel arrangements to where they’ll go live while their immigration case moves forward. Most migrants leave the Valley within three days, said Stanford Prescott, community engagement coordinator.
“The creation of the day shelter is primarily created so that families aren’t dropped off at the bus station, but are dropped somewhere that is safe,” he said.
The migrants were to sleep elsewhere in space provided by churches and nonprofits.
Next week leaders will review what resources would be needed to be able to again offer migrants temporary shelter.
