Andres Cano, the leader of the Democratic Party in the Arizona House of Representatives, announced on Saturday that he intends to step down after the end of the current legislative session so that he can begin his PhD at Harvard’s Kennedy School this summer.

The third-term MP, who represents most of the Tucson area, said in a statement that his acceptance into the secondary school Master of Public Administration program in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“As a first-generation college graduate, I never thought I would have the opportunity,” Kano said. “To put it simply: I want to do more for the people of Arizona and our country — and I want to be ready for my next chapter in public service.”

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The program starts in July.

The Pima County Board of Supervisors will select a replacement to complete his two-year term.

Kano, 31, was first elected in 2018 and again in 2020 and 2022. The House Democratic caucus elected him as minority leader last year.

The Legislative Assembly is expected to complete its work in the coming weeks. Voting on the state budget should begin on Tuesday.

Cano said on Saturday that he aims to “bring the state budget process to the very end.”

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In June, he also plans to step down as director of the LGBTQ+ Alliance Foundation, an initiative of the Southern Arizona Community Foundation.

From 2012 to 2019, Cano served as a political adviser to the late Richard Elias, former chairman of the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

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Current Board Chairman Adelita Grijalva and Supervisor Sharon Bronson issued a statement congratulating Kano on his acceptance into the Harvard program after a “blizzard” to Democratic leadership that began when he interned at the district at age 14.

“Andres learned from a young age that the power of government is best used to provide opportunities and ensure justice,” Grijalva said. “He’s a force of nature, and Harvard better get ready; a whirlwind of positive energy is about to break into Cambridge.”

Marisa Limon Garza, executive director of an El Paso, Texas-based nonprofit immigrant legal services organization, said her organizations’ resources are already drained ahead of an expected increase in migration when border controls end this week in the pandemic era.

After the end of the border directive known as Section 42, she, like her, will face the daunting task of educating migrants about procedures and pathways that organizations have not followed in years, some of which are completely new.

“We have a limited number of attorneys and accredited representatives,” said Limon Garza of the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center. “We’re limited in what we can provide and it’s really difficult in the face of so many changes.”

Border nonprofits and local communities have begun to prepare for the fallout on May 11 from the repeal of the Section 42 policy, which, as of March 2020, allows border agents to return migrants without considering their protection claims.

But many of these organizations face a significant lack of resources, from shelter places to free lawyers to help migrants with their immigration cases. The tension has sparked a debate on Capitol Hill about how best to deal with a potential surge in border migration in the coming months and how federal funds can help.