Pima County Gets Delayed $10M FEMA Reimbursement for Asylum-Seeker Aid
Pima County has received a long-delayed federal reimbursement of nearly $10 million for shelter, food, and transportation it provided to legally processed asylum seekers, after FEMA froze the payments in 2025. Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego announced the payout this week, and the Pima County Attorney’s Office said the money arrived in two lump sums after the county joined a federal lawsuit.
FEMA reimbursed the county about $6.1 million for eligible fiscal year 2023 costs and $3.5 million for fiscal year 2024, the senators said—nearly $10 million combined. The County Attorney’s Office put the recovered total at nearly $9.7 million, paid Aug. 26 and Sept. 8, 2026. The funds come from the Shelter and Services Program, a congressionally approved reimbursement system that covered temporary aid after Customs and Border Protection released people who had been processed and given immigration-court dates. Tucson was often their first stop. Pima County partnered with Catholic Community Services on the Casa Alitas program, which officials say assisted more than 518,000 people over several years and previously drew more than $117 million in federal support. The county says the operation prevented street releases common in other border communities.
The Trump administration froze SSP payments in early 2025 and later terminated grants, arguing the money supported “illegal aliens” and did not match new border-security priorities. County officials said the people they housed had already been processed by federal authorities. Administrator Jan Lesher told supervisors the county was left holding about $9.7 million in unpaid invoices, including utilities and wrap-up bills after the shelter wound down when arrivals dropped to zero in January 2025.
Pima County joined Chicago and Denver in suing FEMA. U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly ruled that withholding the funds was arbitrary and that freezing a program Congress had approved violated the separation of powers. He ordered FEMA to process the claims. Kelly and Gallego had also pressed the agency for months. “Pima County stepped up when the federal government asked them to, and for over two years, they waited for Washington to keep its promise and pay the bill,” Gallego said. Kelly said they would keep pushing until other Arizona organizations owed SSP money are paid as well.
Pima County Gets Delayed $10M FEMA Reimbursement for Asylum-Seeker Aid
After a 2025 freeze and a federal lawsuit, FEMA paid Pima County nearly $10 million for Casa Alitas shelter costs. Sens. Kelly and Gallego hailed the long-awaited Shelter and Services Program payout.
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