TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Pima County says the Federal government owes it more than $12 Million for migrant care. It’s suing to try to get that money.
Pima County is joining with the cities of Chicago and Denver. The suits claim FEMA was wrong to withhold reimbursement for money the county and those cities spent to shelter migrants and keep them off the streets.
Pima County says that over about five years, it spent more than 52 million dollars in Federal grants to shelter about half a million migrants, but only for a few days at a time, as they prepared to move to other locations and pursue asylum claims.
The money came from FEMA shelter grants approved by Congress.
Pima County often points out when migrants came to its shelters, Federal officials had approved them for entry into the U.S. to pursue asylum claims—and that Border Patrol vehicles often brought the migrants to the shelters.
In February, FEMA said it might withhold reimbursement for grants approved in the last months of the Biden Administration. For Pima County that would be more than five-point-seven million dollars, plus another almost three-point-seven million it has not put in for reimbursement yet.
Chicago and Denver are also suing for reimbursements they say they deserve.
Pima County and the cities say since Congress approved the money, executive branch agencies have no authority to hold back funds.