SANTA FE – Santa Fe won’t provide shelter for asylum-seekers who have crossed the border in southern New Mexico.
In conversations with leaders of local organizations and government officials, it was decided that Santa Fe would not best serve as a shelter location for some of the numerous migrants crossing the border and being dropped off in Las Cruces, Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber said during Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
Because most asylum-seekers are looking to leave the state to get to sponsors in other parts of the country, Albuquerque is considered to be a better central location because of its larger size and more transportation options, Webber said.
He said he has been in regular contact with Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima.
Santa Fe will organize ways to provide money, clothes, blankets, sheets, nonperishable food, personal care items and other goods, along with recruiting volunteers to help in Albuquerque and Las Cruces, Webber said.
The Santa Fe Community Foundation is prepared to create a fund “that would be designated as a fund for the assistance of refugees and asylum-seekers,” he said.
Webber also said that Keller told him Albuquerque is looking for Portuguese-speaking volunteers to communicate with immigrants who speak that language.
