Abbott bottles funds meant for border cities

FEMA issues statement saying relief costs are reimbursable

AUSTIN — Texas border cities are still awaiting nearly $1 million in federal reimbursements for providing humanitarian aid during a 2014 crisis sparked by a wave of immigrants seeking to cross into the United States.

Gov. Greg Abbott’s office is responsible for distributing the funds to the cities but contends the requests from the cities are ineligible for reimbursement under federal regulations.

The reimbursement would cover out-of-pocket expenses incurred by several municipalities in the Rio Grande Valley when tens of thousands of immigrants from Central America crossed the border and turned themselves in to authorities, overwhelming local border patrols.

Government provisions

Elected state and federal officials from the area have been working since the crisis hit to include language in appropriations bills that would direct funds from the State Homeland Security Grant Program to be used for the reimbursement. For years, the process has been snagged in the governor’s office, which distributes federal grant money to local municipalities.

“The Department of Homeland Security and FEMA have informed our office that due to the way the federal law is written, this expense is not eligible for reimbursement using current appropriations,” said John Wittman, spokesman for the governor’s office.

Officials with FEMA, however, issued a statement to the Houston Chronicle saying humanitarian relief costs are reimbursable.

At the center of the controversy is McAllen, a city of 140,000 people along the Texas-Mexico border, which was one of the hardest-hit areas by the influx of immigrants.

“In 2014, there were just thousands,” McAllen Mayor Jim Darling said. “We had hundreds of people a day coming across the border.”

A majority of these immigrants were unaccompanied minors and families, who turned themselves in at the border, seeking care. Darling estimates McAllen alone ran up a bill of $700,000 on bus services, security and facilities for the people.

“Really it was an extension of what the federal government would have provided if they had the facilities to be able to do it,” Darling said. “Just providing nutrition and washing their clothes. We were doing really an extension of what the federal government was supposed to do, which is another reason we thought reimbursement was appropriate.”

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, agrees with Darling’s assessment and said he has been adding language to federal appropriations bills for years that should have paved the way for the funds.

“We put this language that allows the monies for southwest border states that get these Homeland Security dollars to do the reimbursement,” Cuellar said. “So if they wanted to use it, they can definitely do that. I have no doubt in my mind that Gov. Abbott’s office can do this if they wanted to.”

The Department of Homeland Security Grant program awards millions of dollars of funds to the State of Texas every fiscal year. DHS records reviewed by the Chronicle show Texas had more than $105 million in unused funds from the program as of May 2017. The potential reimbursement for the border cities would come from those funds.

‘Support’ those in need

At the state level, Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, DMcAllen, added language to the state budget during the 84th legislative session two years ago, prioritizing State Homeland Security Grant Program funds for the reimbursements.

“Quite frankly, we should have already been reimbursed for some of these funds,” Hinojosa said. “The amount of money that we’re talking about is not a lot of money for the federal government or the state for that matter, but it’s a lot of money for a local community.”

Hinojosa speculated the delay from the governor’s office may be because of a hesitancy to support immigrants who are in the state without proper documentation but said he thinks providing aid to these people was the right thing to do.

“These are human beings,” Hinojosa said. “Every person should be treated with dignity and respect. We as a country have always stepped up to support people who need it.”