Imagine

Let’s play imagine for a moment.

You wake up in the morning, take a drive to Safeway for some groceries, and notice a long and an unfamiliar bus parked in the middle of the parking lot, bearing New York license plates.

Your curiosity piqued, you park a short distance away and observe.

A door opens, and you watch about 70 people of varying ages and skin color disembark, carrying suitcases, shopping bags, and other belongings.

Emptied of passengers, the bus closes its doors and takes off, leaving the people huddled in the parking lot, confused, looking around and not knowing what to do.

Then it hits you. Migrants! A group of migrants have just been dropped off in Sedona with no one there to greet them or direct them.

So, what do you then do?

Most likely, call 911 and let the police know what just happened. And wait.

The police arrive, and they don’t know what to do either, so they call the City and ask for guidance, as the group begins to split up and meander in different directions.

Outnumbered, the police try to round them up before they could slip into the community.

Those with children remain huddled, but a few single, military-aged men wander off before they could be corralled.

City officials arrive, as well as the mayor, to assess the situation.

The question is, has the city prepared for such a scenario?

What will it do? Lease another large bus and ship the immigrants to Cottonwood?

Open a school auditorium to house them until they could figure out what to do with the migrants, especially the families?

Open up the food bank to feed them?

Buy them Happy Meals?

Work with the local churches and houses of worship to provide space where they could sleep?

Rent rooms in local hotels?

Build weatherproof tents on the cultural park grounds?

Enroll their kids temporarily in local schools?

Buy them additional clothing at Goodwill?

Hook them up with medical insurance and food stamps?

Drive them back to New York?

Sedona Mayor Scott Jablow, when asked if the City has any plans on how it would handle such a scenario, said it doesn’t have any.

He said most likely immigration authorities would be there to handle the situation and that migrants would be much better off in Phoenix.

“Why would they come to Sedona when they could get everything they want in Phoenix,” he asked?

Presently, the mayor is working with council and staff to provide a safe place to park for people employed in Sedona who are living in their cars. Though the effort has caused some controversy in the community, those with compassionate hearts are hoping to be able to create the camp in the parking lot of the Sedona Cultural Park for homeless workers.

He noted that a percentage of the homeless who do not work in the city and have no transportation have set up camp in the past by Oak Creek and in the storm drains by Walgreens, but recently the drain pipes have been cleaned by ADOT and no trespassing signs have been put up, according to the mayor.

“As far as a busload of migrants bussed to Sedona from New York, I certainly hope that that scenario never comes to be,” Mayor Jablow said.

Such a scenario where migrants get dropped off in Sedona may be possible, but not probable.

Still, if it should happen, it would be wise to have a plan in place, locked and loaded.