The city’s attempt to be reimbursed for its immigration relief effort has hit a snag.

In April, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar announced McAllen was eligible to apply for federal dollars to reimburse the more than $300,000 it has spent assisting Sacred Heart Church volunteers. Cuellar’s announcement came 10 months after McAllen started using city funds to provide services, such as portable showers, a generator and workers for organizational oversight after an influx of immigrants crossed the border last year.

However, about two weeks ago, Mayor Jim Darling said those funds were depleted. Darling, who last month became the president of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council, the organization in charge of doling out federal grant dollars in Hidalgo County, noticed there was only about $8 left.

“There’s no money left in the account,” he said. “No sense in applying for that.”

While no one has explicitly told McAllen officials they can’t apply to be reimbursed, Darling said, the fund’s more than $400,000 went mainly to law enforcement.

Cuellar said the state — the agency in charge of dispersing the federal Homeland Security dollars is the Department of Public Safety — obligated the funds elsewhere because it didn’t want to appear “soft” on the U.S.-Mexico border by providing money to a humanitarian effort.

“They want to look tough on the border,” he said. “I’m sorry the state has taken that position. ... They do have the money, but they’re saying that they don’t.”

Cuellar said he was disappointed in the state because McAllen officials and he aren’t asking for state funds, just federal funds controlled by the state.

http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/mcallen-s-attempt-for-immigration-effort-reimbursement-in-limbo/article_cbb0c9cc-21e4-11e5-b1c7-efc7b3c6b767.html