Local governments, law enforcement agencies, nonprofits and religious groups could be reimbursed for tens of thousands dollars spent since last year to address an influx of families and unaccompanied children crossing the Southwest Texas border into the United States.

U.S. Congressman Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, announced Friday that those in border communities like Laredo can soon apply for reimbursement of expenses accrued from their efforts assisting those families and children.

Cuellar said $47 million will be available to the state of Texas this year from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Though the agency usually serves U.S. citizens who have experienced natural or man-made domestic disasters, including acts of terror, Cuellar said this is the first time the agency is assisting in a humanitarian care.

“There’s a lot of my colleagues that think the border is only a wall … but it’s more than that,” Cuellar said.

“It’s also the cost incurred by local communities.

It was a shift in Washington when we added this language and it’s a shift we will see in Austin also.”

Beginning last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection saw a sharp increase in apprehending unaccompanied children from Central America at the country’s southwest border, mostly in the Rio Grande Valley.

The congressman said he worked with other federal officials on including new language in a fiscal year 2015 Department of Homeland Security funding bill to make this funding possible.

A report on the bill’s language released by Cuellar’s office says local governments and law enforcement along the border are eligible for reimbursement since the events “not only created a humanitarian crisis but also a greater vulnerability to terrorism and other security risks to our nation.”

The FEMA funds aim to reimburse expenses on food, water, hygiene products, medicine, medical supplies and temporary housing, and costs for transportation to and from temporary housing or to permanent housing.

However, costs accrued for volunteerism or “manpower” cannot be reimbursed, Cuellar said.

Rebecca Solloa, executive director of Catholic Social Services of Laredo, said her nonprofit had spent $60,000 on the crisis since June 2014.

She said the extra costs led the nonprofit making adjustments to its general fund this fiscal year regarding personnel, specifically the salaries of the nonprofit’s immigration staff, social workers and other staff members working at its humanitarian center in Laredo.

While the reimbursement application is not yet available to Catholic Social Services of Laredo and other local nonprofits, Solloa said she will have to check the definitions of what can be reimbursed in the application when it is released to see which of her nonprofit’s costs are eligible.

Once her nonprofit’s application is submitted, she expects it could take four to six months before Catholic Social Services of Laredo sees its federal reimbursement.

“It’s a good gesture on behalf of the government to recognize that agencies like ours and Holding (Institute) were here and provided the humanitarian efforts that those families needed and deserved,” Solloa said.

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