The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to allocate $3 million to local nonprofits so they can continue to provide services to arriving migrants, with hopes of consolidating such resources in the near future at a proposed migrant center.

The funding measure, recommended by District 1 Supervisor and Board Chair Nora Vargas, is one of the first steps local officials have taken to address the more than 13,000 migrants — many of them asylum seekers — who have been dropped off at transit centers across the county since Sept. 13. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol continue to process migrants, many of whom waited sometimes days at the U.S.-Mexico border, before dropping off around 500 people a day.

“People can have their political opinions, but we have a responsibility once people are here in our county” to treat them with “dignity and respect,” Vargas said at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.

The final vote was 3-0, with Supervisors Vargas, Terra Lawson-Remer and Joel Anderson voting in favor. Supervisor Jim Desmond was absent from the meeting.

The funding is for local aid organizations to provide migrants with services such as translation assistance, transportation, Wi-Fi, food, water and restrooms. The county is currently considering locations for a temporary migrant center, including an empty San Diego Unified School District campus, according to Lawson-Remer.

Nearly 45 community members and leaders from local nonprofits spoke at the meeting or called in to express their thoughts on the funding proposal, with the majority in favor. There were also more than 100 comments for and against the measure submitted to the board online.

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The funding comes from the American Rescue Plan Act, in which the federal government granted $650 million to San Diego County to support recovery from the COVID-19 public health emergency. The county’s plan for the federal money will need to be revised to accommodate spending for this use, but the $3 million has not yet been allocated to any other service.

“This fiscal commitment is necessary to keep the humanitarian crisis from deepening and securing the health and safety of our region while maintaining the human dignity of asylees fleeing oppressive regimes,” the proposal read.

According to the proposal, the funding is intended to last up to three months while the county continues to seek long-term funding from the federal government. A county spokesperson previously told the Union-Tribune that the federal government should be responsible for dealing with the issue.

“There are 700 people every single day being dropped off, and they need help,” Lawson-Remer said after the meeting, describing the funding as a “stop gap” before securing federal support. “You can’t just leave people in the middle of the street. It’s an absurd approach to welcoming people to our country.”

Desmond, who did not attend the meeting due to a prior family commitment, said in a statement that the decision to provide the funding was “disappointing.”

“While compassion for those seeking refuge is essential, it should not come at the expense of our residents, who depend on these funds for their well-being and the betterment of our community,” the statement read.

Anderson said that while voting “yes” on the funding wasn’t his first choice, he believes it’s the county’s “responsibility on a human level” to respond to this situation.

Local organizations, some of which already receive some funding from the federal government, have been on the front lines providing services to migrants, including helping them with basic needs such as food, water and temporary housing as they figure out travel plans.

Most migrants — 98 percent, according to the proposal — who are dropped off a locations throughout the county are continuing on to other destinations in the U.S.

Casa Familiar, which has been providing services to asylum seekers at the San Ysidro Civic Center, announced last week that it is no longer able to use the site due to depleted resources. The nonprofit, which has served more than 11,000 people, said migrants are now being sent back to a transit station in Otay Mesa to receive services.

“So many of us are doing things that are not what we typically do in everyday practices,” Lisa Cuestas, the organization’s chief executive officer, said in support of the funding proposal at the Tuesday meeting. “In my community, I’m seeing businesses being impacted, nonprofit organizations and people being stretched way too thin and seeing the trauma of those seeking help and hearing their stories.”

Immigrant Defenders Law Center Executive Director Lindsay Toczylowski said in an interview that she’s “pleasantly surprised” with the vote but said that funding on its own is not enough. She hopes the county will consider taking a more operational role in a migrant welcome center, instead of leaving it to nonprofits to run.

“I’m really grateful and I think it’s an amazing first step, but also we need to see a continued ramping up of the county playing a leading role in the operations of this effort, because it’s beyond what the NGOs here in San Diego have capacity to do on our own,” she said.

On Monday, local organizations and volunteers helped recently released migrants in a parking lot at the Iris Avenue Transit Station in Otay Mesa.

Ruth Mendez, a member of the Detention Resistance collective, said any additional funding is “super necessary.” “We could do a lot more and make sure we are welcoming people with the dignity they deserve.”

Newly arrived migrants have even offered to help when they see the need.

“For us newcomers (this help) is a blessing,” said Adrian, a Colombian migrant who declined to give his last name for fear of repercussions to his immigration case. Adrian, who was released from border authorities on Sunday, was waiting for his wife to arrive Monday from a processing center. While waiting, he helped to guide other newly arrived migrants.

A handful of local residents voiced their opposition to the funding at the meeting. Local officials including El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells and District 4 supervisor candidate Amy Reichert also opposed the bill in statements released Friday.

Some speakers at the meeting characterized the migrants being helped as criminals and said the county should put its resources instead to issues like homelessness and housing.

Also on the meeting agenda Tuesday was a proposal from Anderson to prohibit migrants with certain criminal convictions from participating in the Immigrant Rights Legal Defense Program. The county initiative, launched in 2022, provides immigrants facing deportation with legal representation.

However, the board declined to consider the proposal.

A report released last month showed that the county provided attorneys to nearly 800 immigrants in the first 15 months of the program. Of the total, 34 migrants faced deportation at least in part because they were accused or convicted of a criminal act.

Anderson reminded the board that he voted in favor of allocating the $3 million for migrant services earlier in the meeting and said that his proposal was partly intended to help protect asylum seekers from “criminal elements” as they go through the immigration system.