A migrant passes by with her paperwork as the crowd listens to shelter rules. Dozens of migrants arrive to the Catholic Charities - Diocese of Laredo shelter on Friday May 12, 2023 as they continued their process to go into the interior of the United States to wait for their immigration court dates.
Jorge A. Vela / Laredo Morning Times
LMTonline.com
Jorge A. Vela, LMTonline.com / Laredo Morning Times, Laredo Morning Times
Rep. Henry Cuellar (TX-28) announced Monday that his district will get close to $37 million by the Department of Homeland Security for nonprofits and city entities that need help with any current or future migrant surges.
Of that money, about $12.4 million is coming to the Laredo area, as the Laredo Texas Catholic Social Service from Webb County is receiving $6,438,769 and the Laredo Fire Department is receiving $5,961,992.
Other sites in Cuellar's district to receive funds include the City of San Antonio at $13,051,737, United Way San Antonio at $5,795,360 and Catholic Charities Archdiocese of San Antonio at $5,688,925.
Cuellar, as the ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, was personally notified by the DHS Secretary of the funds for District 28 in efforts to make sure the organizations and nonprofits knew of the incoming assistance. Cuellar is also the creator of the Shelter and Services Program that began funding for border communities affected by migrant surges in the middle of the previous decade.
“The numbers may have gone down, but we want to make sure that they have monies over a period of time in case if the numbers raise again,” Cuellar said. “But if they raise again they will be ready and can set up quickly and smoother. That is why monies are being given to nonprofits, cities and counties, so they can be ready just in case the numbers go up again.”
Cuellar said the funding mainly will focus on providing food, shelter, staff salaries, security, local transportation, any fumigation needed, clothing and over-the-counter medications for the migrants staying in these areas.
The Laredo Fire Department and Catholic Charities were chosen as the recipients of the funds because they filled out an application asking for funds, and they were then chosen and approved to receive them.
Cuellar said he is very glad that the end of Title 42 did not cause any major disruptions or large surge of numbers in the Laredo area. He said that migrants were not out roaming the streets of the city, and this was largely because the city and the nonprofits prepared adequately for the issues. The influx of new money will only further prepare the community for potential surges.
“We thought the numbers were going to be big, and they did not materialize and there are several reasons for it,” Cuellar said. “One being that the government is pushing for harsher repercussions, which is something I have been talking about for years. I am glad that the administration is doing this.
“I also think why the numbers went down, and we do not give Mexico credit, is that it shows you how Mexico can be good when they want to do something. As long as Title 42 was in place, they kept them on their side, but now with it gone, they are vetting those fakes and taking down anybody that does not fit the southern border. So when you are returned all the way down to the southern border of Mexico, it dissuades them from doing the whole journey again.”
The congressman also stressed that Mexico should do more on its southern border, as it does have more manpower. The United States has about 19,000 Border Patrol agents for the southern border while Mexico has about 40,000 National Guardsmen and border agents that can turn around people.
Cuellar states that these new policies fall in line with Title 8, which he believes is a better law to protect the border area as it punishes those who do not enter through a legal port of entry with deportment and also a punishment of not being able to reenter until 5-10 or even 15 years afterwards.
While the money being passed will certainly help regarding another surge of people, Cuellar said funds have been going down to border communities compared to a decade ago.
“Back in 2014, I added some language when we were seeing the first wave of people coming in to help the county and nonprofits with these border surges that we have been seeing, but the problem was that we would send money to the states and then the Republican governors would not pass the money on,” Cuellar said. “Then in 2017 we decided to change it, and we finally got the change in 2019 where we would bypass the state. The money would then go directly to FEMA and the cities, the counties and the nonprofits.”
Cuellar said when he first started this plan it was only about $30 million that would be sent to the border communities affected. However, the funds are now divided even further. This is due to many states sending migrants to interior parts of the country which has resulted in border communities losing some of those extra assets.
“Maine was one of the first that started getting the monies, and then the city of San Antonio did so as well because of the overflow of Eagle Pass and Del Rio and Uvalde as they were being sent there,” Cuellar said. “This started changing it from just being for the pure border community to now other communities. Then, when Abbott and other folks started sending people up to New York and Washington, D.C. and Chicago, we started seeing them wanting monies as well as the legislators and senators from those places requested it.”
Cuellar said the only good thing about this new urge for funds was that the limit of $30 million that was originally allotted for in 2014 rose to $150 million and most recently to $800 million. However, since many more cities and areas are requesting the money, the last few years has made it more difficult for border communities to receive funds even though they are on the frontlines.
The congressman hopes this comes to an end sometime soon, especially as border areas received only 45% of the total funds this time around.
jorge.vela@lmtonline.com