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The McAllen city manager said officials will respond to a federal demand for information over a long-running migrant grant while the city of Brownsville is not commenting.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, sent letters to both cities on March 11 notifying the municipalities that the federal government is temporarily withholding payments through Shelter and Services Program, or SSP, grants.

Federal officials also accuse both cities of harboring people in the country illegally through the use of the grant monies as the reason for the funding freeze.

The grants are used by the cities to support U.S. Customs and Border Protection after migrants are processed by DHS and released from short-term holding facilities.

McAllen and Brownsville have long had the burden of responding to surges of migrants arriving in the Rio Grande Valley after they have been paroled from custody with immigration and asylum cases.

McAllen City Manager Isaac Tawil referenced this during a phone interview Thursday afternoon, stressing that people serviced by the grant money were brought to the city by federal authorities.

“They would have their packet provided by whatever agency processed them,” he said, adding that when people would be brought to McAllen there’d be federal agents right with the bus that dropped them off for temporary release.

“So at that point to suggest that we were harboring illegal immigrants is a bit perplexing,” he said.

The Valley’s congressional delegation has always been in favor of this funding. In March 2024, U.S. Reps. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Brownsville, Monica De La Cruz, R-McAllen, and Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, all voted in favor of an appropriations bill that sent approximately $3.9 million to McAllen and $1.9 million to Brownsville through the SSP grants.

The March 11 letter said that funding, along with two other SSP grants awarded to the cities are being scrutinized.

The letter cites $5,195,505 in grant funding for March 1, 2023 through Sept. 30; $1,921,965 for Oct. 1, 2023 through Sept. 30, 2026; and $5,877,016 for the same period are being temporarily withheld for Brownsville. That’s a total of $12,994,486.

In McAllen, the letter cites $7,099,864 in grant money for March 1, 2023 through Sept. 30 and $3,921,965 for Oct. 1 2023 through Sept. 30, 2026. That’s a total of $11,021,829.

The letters to McAllen and Brownsville are nearly identical.

Both say DHS “has significant concerns that SSP funding is going to entities engaged in or facilitating illegal activities.”

“The Department is concerned that entities receiving payment under this program may be guilty of encouraging or inducing (people) to come to, enter, or reside in the United States in violation” of the law by transporting or moving or harboring, concealing or shielding people in the country illegally.

“DHS/FEMA is required to administer its grant awards as to ensure that federal funding is expended and associated programs are implemented in full accordance with the U.S. Constitution, applicable federal statutes, and regulations,” the letters stated.

The federal agencies have demanded that Brownsville and McAllen respond within 30 days by naming all people that the municipalities and their subrecipients and contracts interacted with in carrying out the scope of the grant, “including their names and contact information; and a detailed and descriptive list of specific services provided, and proof of provision of these services,” the letters state.

Alternatively, the federal government demands a written statement that the information has already been submitted.

Tawil said he’s unsure if the response has been sent to the federal agencies yet, but said the city does intend to respond to the letter. The city will respond within the timeline, he said.

Tawil added that all of the information the agencies are requesting was actually provided to the city of McAllen by federal authorities themselves so that information will just be given back to them. He also said he doesn’t understand why the federal government is asking for information it already has.

“(We’ll give the) information back that they already have,” he said.

Brownsville did not respond to questions about whether it would respond to the letter and about the city’s perspective on accusations that the grant money is being used to harbor people in the country illegally. In response, a city spokesperson didn’t provide much.

“We are currently reviewing the request internally and will follow up as soon as we have an update to share,” the response stated.

While Brownsville wouldn’t answer questions about the 30-day deadline or the federal government’s accusations, it has the option to appeal within 60 days of the letter.

The post McAllen to respond to DHS migrant grant demands; Brownsville stays mum appeared first on MyRGV.com.