Gov. Doug Ducey stammered and looked imploringly at his staff to help him out during an embarrassing press conference Wednesday when he was asked about a state of emergency declared by the Gila Bend town council Tuesday night.
The governor’s press conference at the University of Arizona was meant to promote a COVID-19 vaccination site. He was clearly caught off guard by the declaration Gila Bend Mayor Chris Riggs signed after federal authorities dumped several asylum-seeking families, including young children, in the town of 2,000 people.
When asked by a Telemundo journalist what the state’s plan is for responding to Gila Bend’s declaration of emergency, Ducey stared for several seconds at Dr. Cara Christ, the director of the Arizona Department of Health Services. After the two whispered away from the podium, Ducey asked the reporter when the order came in, obviously unaware of Tuesday’s development.
“I guess I’m not understanding the question,” Ducey said, later telling the reporter “I’ve got to check with my team” on whether his office received notice from Gila Bend officials.
Riggs has given more than one dozen television and radio interviews this month after being forewarned by officials with USBP and U.S. Customs & Border Protection about plans to drop off “overflow” families and others in the town. That plan is apparently driven by the presence of Greyhound bus stop, even though Gila Bend has no police department, no shelters, and no hospital.
In his public statements, Riggs has pleaded with state and federal officials for help – first in an effort to get the plan changed, and now in hopes of receiving financial and humanitarian assistance. That was the subject of his appearance on several news programs after Tuesday’s USBP drop off.
But apparently no one in Ducey’s office kept the governor apprised of the situation more than 60 miles inland from the border.
Which is concerning given that Ducey was at the UA with Christ to tout the state’s COVID-19 trends and mitigation efforts. Riggs has been sounding the alarm on the threat posed on his residents from the spread of COVID-19 via the migrant drop-offs.
The town has no resources for testing the asylum seekers, Riggs told KFYI’s James T. Harris on Wednesday. Although if someone did test positive he has no idea how to go about quarantining anyone.
“I don’t know where I’m going to quarantine them,” the mayor said. “I have no facilities here. Do I set up a tent out in the middle of the park and ask them to stay there? I don’t know what to do.”
According to Riggs, the first group of asylum seekers were taken out of U.S. Border Patrol vehicles on Tuesday and left in the town with no food or money. None had Greyhound bus tickets -which have to be purchased online in advance- but it was a moot issue anyway as the daily shuttlebus had already departed, Riggs told Harris.
Riggs, who calls the actions of federal immigration officials “unconscionable,” says he was perplexed when Ducey traveled all the way to Douglas last week for a press conference at the border but never reached out to Gila Bend officials.
He is now beseeching Arizonans to call Ducey’s office and ask the governor to act so FEMA monies and myriad assistance can be available for Gila Bend and other communities facing the same crisis.
“We can’t just leave children in the middle of nowhere,” Riggs said.
There was no announcement by Ducey’s office after the UA press conference about whether the governor took a detour to Gila Bend on his way home to Phoenix.