Kelly, Sinema Announce Nearly $48 Million in Shelter and Services Program (SSP) Funds for Arizona Communities

Senators secured critical funding to help Arizona border communities manage releases from DHS custody—preventing street releases and keeping families safe

Arizona Senators Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema announced $47,340,665 in additional funds from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Shelter & Services Program (SSP) to support Arizona communities managing continued releases from DHS custody. 

Earlier this year, Kelly and Sinema announced nearly $55 million in SSP funds for Arizona communities, after securing $650 million for SSP in the Fiscal Year 2024 Department of Homeland Security annual appropriations bill. 

Now, new awards have been announced from the remaining $380 million in SSP funding for Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations, bringing additional SSP funds to Arizona communities. The State of Arizona will receive $19,256,041; Pima County will receive $18,706,639; the Regional Center for Border Health in Yuma County will receive $7,545,622; and the Borderlands Resource Initiative in Pima County will receive $1,832,363. 

“Arizona’s local governments and nonprofits are on the frontlines working to keep both asylum seekers and our communities safe,” said Kelly. “This funding will allow them to continue providing critical services to support border communities. I will continue working for the support our border communities need and deserve.” 

“Arizona border communities continue to manage releases from DHS custody. I’m proud to secure critical resources to support our border communities – preventing street releases, providing humane treatment of migrants, and keeping Arizona families safe,” said Sinema. 

In the Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations bill, Kelly and Sinema secured $800 million to create the new CBP Shelter and Services Program to help cover the costs incurred by local government agencies and non-governmental organizations to manage migrant encounters at the border. 

In February, Kelly and Sinema sent a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees urging them to allocate sufficient SSP funding—noting that, without additional funding, organizations managing the fallout of the border crisis would be forced to cease operations, increasing the likelihood that migrants would be released without shelter or support into the streets of local Arizona communities. 

SSP funds are used to reimburse local governments and nonprofits that provide shelter, food, transportation, and support services to asylum seekers arriving at Arizona’s southern border and processed by CBP. In December, Kelly and Sinema urged the Department of Homeland Security to distribute additional SSP funding to border communities in Arizona and criticized the failure to prioritize border states for SSP funds.