Rep. Ruben Gallego wants to fix humanitarian funding at the border. Here's his plan

U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat running for the Senate, unveiled a plan on Monday to reform the program that funds Arizona nonprofits and local governments in their humanitarian response to arriving migrants.

The proposal calls for a number of reforms to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s new Shelter and Services Program. The federal program was created to help reimburse nonprofits and local governments for their efforts to help migrants released from the Department of Homeland Security custody.

The program has since raised concerns among nonprofit leaders and sparked continued criticism from Arizona lawmakers.

Gallego’s plan seeks to fix specific portions of the SSP model that nonprofits, border community leaders and law enforcement officials have all raised issues with.

“FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program has been inadequate for Arizona’s border communities, non-profits, and law enforcement since it was implemented,” Gallego said in a written statement.

The proposal calls for the Shelter and Services Program to be funded for $1.5 billion every year while improving information sharing between U.S. Customs and Border Protection and local governments.

The proposal calls for more oversight of the program to ensure funds are being used correctly while asking for clarification on which federal agency is actually in charge of administering the program.

Here are the six main pillars of the plan: data sharing; reimbursement reform; financial certainty; jurisdictional clarity; spending oversight; and first responder grant program.

What is the Shelter and Services Program?

Funding for the Shelter and Services Program comes from the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act. The Shelter and Services Program funds can be used by nonprofits and local governments to transport, house and feed migrants.

The Shelter and Services Program was created to replace FEMA’s previous funding program, the Emergency Food and Shelter Program. The transition between models has been taking place throughout 2023.

The previous program similarly provided funds to entities to help migrants released into their communities. Under the prior model, however, the federal funds were almost all limited to communities along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Shelter and Services Program allows for funding to go to communities in the interior of the country too, sparking backlash from Arizona officials.

What are the highlights of Gallego’s plan?

Gallego’s plan details a data sharing strategy to allow CBP to share information with local and county governments, easing frustrations with the A-number reimbursement model in place.

The Alien Registration Number, or A-number, reimbursement model poses an obstacle to nonprofits and governments from being reimbursed for their efforts.

DHS assigns an A-number to every migrant who is processed into the country in order to identify them. CBP will give migrants a paper with their A-number, which they are then required to present when they arrive at a shelter.

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The paper may be lost or damaged as migrants travel to the facility. If migrants arrive at shelters with an incomplete or missing A-number, then the nonprofits cannot be reimbursed for the person’s related costs.

CBP will validate the A-numbers after they’re submitted but won’t provide them on the front end, citing privacy concerns.

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The reform proposal will allow CBP to share A-numbers with the organizations in order for them to be fully reimbursed for their efforts and expenses.

Under the Shelter and Services Program, entities must front the costs related to caring for migrants before being reimbursed by the federal government afterward.

Gallego’s proposal suggests that reimbursements be processed no later than 30 days and that recipients should be able to submit reimbursements once a week.

Additionally, the plan states that there shouldn’t be a cap on funding for transportation and non-congregate shelter.

In August, DHS expanded the cap for hotels, motels and airfare to 10% of the total funding requested by the recipient. The agency also allowed for recipients to apply for a waiver of those caps based on operational need.

Is Arizona being 'shortchanged' by the program?

Gallego has claimed that the Shelter and Services Program has “shortchanged” Arizona border communities responding to the arrival of migrants in the country.

Arizona officials, including Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., have criticized the amount of money that Arizona entities have received compared with interior communities, such as New York City. Gallego is running for Sinema's Senate seat.

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In fiscal year 2023, the Shelter and Services Program has disbursed nearly $380 million in funding. Roughly 47%, or about $182 million, went to communities in the interior of the country.

Arizona entities only received roughly 8% of all the funding distributed in 2023 with nearly $32.1 million coming to local governments and nonprofits.

Gallego’s proposal calls for no less than 60% of Shelter and Services Program funding to go to border states. Gallego also calls for the funding formulas used by the agencies to determine how much money goes where to be made public.

Have a news tip or story idea about the border and its communities? Contact the reporter at josecastaneda@arizonarepublic.com or connect with him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @joseicastaneda.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Ruben Gallego wants reforms for humanitarian funding border program