(The Center Square) — U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, reintroduced a bill this week that aims to help areas affected by illegal immigration.
The First Responders Emergency Assistance Act would establish emergency grants for law enforcement and first responders in areas that receive a high volume of calls related to illegal immigrants.
According to Gallego’s press release, the Department of Homeland Security would administer the grant program. The program would be made available to cities, counties, tribes and states that need help with equipment, operations, staffing, law enforcement overtime costs, first responders and emergency operation centers.
The FREAA mandates that 25% of the grant funds be allocated toward border communities, which are heavily impacted by illegal immigration.
To illustrate, in Yuma, Arizona, which is around 30 minutes from Mexico, one of its major hospitals spent over $26 million in 2023 to treat illegal immigrants who came to their hospital.
As a state, Arizona was hit hard by illegal immigration during the Biden administration. According to the House Homeland Security Committee, nearly 11 million illegal immigrants entered America. Almost 10 million of these foreign nationals came to the United States through the southwest border.
Gallego said during the surges of illegal immigration at the southern border, Arizona communities felt the “brunt of it.”
“I’ve heard directly from local fire and police departments who are answering more immigration-related emergency calls without enough resources,” the first-time senator said.
“This bill helps reimburse fire and police departments for these costs and delivers the federal support our brave public safety and emergency response workers deserve,” he added.
As a member of the U.S. House last year, Gallego introduced this bill, but it did not make it out of the House.
For endorsements, the United States Deputy Sheriff’s Association, the National Association of Police Organizations, the Fraternal Order of Police and the International Association of Fire Fighters said they supported this bill.
Patrick Yoes, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said as the number of migrants crossing into America increased, law enforcement members of his order “struggled to keep up with the amount of border crossings.”
“By providing grants for first responders, this bill would help coordinate efforts between agencies to address migrant needs and ensure that our first responders have the tools necessary to do their jobs,” he explained.
Since President Donald Trump took office in January, border communities have had less illegal immigration.
According to the White House, the United States had 6,070 encounters at the southern border last month.
