Local officials said Thursday they don’t expect last summer’s surge of Central American immigrants into the Rio Grande Valley to repeat this year.

But if it does happen again, they said they’re ready.

“The message is: We’re prepared,” Hidalgo County Judge Ramon Garcia said at a news conference Thursday. However, he added, “I don’t expect us to have what we had last year.”

To bolster their argument, officials pointed to U.S. Border Patrol apprehension figures. Compared to last summer, the agency’s apprehensions have dropped by more than half, said Kevin Oaks, the agency’s Rio Grande Valley sector chief.

“We have planned and anticipated for a spike,” he said, “but so far our intelligence information (and) reports that we’re getting from Central America don’t show an increase at any level than what we experienced last year. That’s not to say it can’t happen. Anything can happen.”

This time last year, his agents detained between 1,200 and 1,500 immigrants a day, Oaks said. Now, they find between 400 to 500 people per day suspected of violating immigration laws, he said.

The number of unaccompanied children apprehended has dropped 60 percent, and the number of families apprehended has dropped 58 percent, he said.

In March, The Monitor reported the number of immigrants through Sacred Heart Catholic Church in downtown McAllen had ticked up steadily since a December lull. As the weather got warmer, Eli Fernandez, a director at the church, said his staff had been told to expect another increase.

But since then, the numbers have steadily dropped, albeit with a few spikes, according to statistics Catholic Charities records and gives to McAllen.

Oaks said one of the main reasons for the decrease might be that people know they’ll be detained if they cross into the Valley.

“I think it’s decreased because there are better facilities to detain people,” he said. “Detention is one of the primary reasons people don’t come back to the country.”

FEDERAL REIMBURSEMENT

While it was announced April 7 that McAllen could apply to be reimbursed for the money it spent assisting Catholic Charities in its relief effort, the city has not yet formally done so, Mayor Jim Darling said at the news conference.

Before McAllen can apply, city staff has to figure out what exactly the federal government will reimburse, and that can be a tricky process.

“Knowing how federal programs work, there will definitely be some things that they’re going to say, ‘We won’t cover that, but we will cover this,’” said Jeff Johnston, an assistant city manager and the deputy emergency management coordinator for McAllen. “It is what it is.”

The reimbursement funds would come through the Department of Homeland Security’s budget, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said April 7. But the department’s funds can be handed out in what can seem to be an arbitrary way, Johnston said.

“It is fairly amazing how certain pieces of equipment are eligible,” Johnston said, “but if you get it with this attachment it’s not eligible.”

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