Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly say Pima County has received a long-awaited reimbursement from FEMA for the county’s role in assisting asylum seekers legally processed into the U.S. under the Biden administration.
For years, Tucson was often the first stop for asylum seekers who’d been processed by Border Patrol and given dates to appear in immigration courts around the country. Pima County worked with a local aid group to provide meals, transportation aid and other services.
The program was fueled by federal funding from FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program — a Biden-era initiative approved by Congress to reimburse local communities for humanitarian assistance they provided.
But the Trump administration froze payments to the program and began taking back funds already earmarked for local efforts in the spring of last year. Pima County was out almost $10 million for the work done in 2023 and 2024.
In a release this week, Gallego and Kelly said those funds had finally been released to the county.
“Pima County stepped up when the federal government asked them to, and for over two years, they waited for Washington to keep its promise and pay the bill,” Gallego said the statement.
Both senators lobbied for the release of the funds in a letter to FEMA earlier this year.
