Las Cruces returns millions of dollars used for COVID-19 and humanitarian response efforts
LAS CRUCES ‒ The Las Cruces City Council on Monday returned nearly $2 million that had been transferred for humanitarian aid to asylum applicants during the 2019 humanitarian crisis as well as for the city’s COVID-19 response.
In a series of resolutions from 2019 to 2021, the council moved close to $4 million from the city’s Telshor Facility Fund into a health care services fund. Over $1 million was transferred from the fund while the city sought federal reimbursement and other grants to cover assistance provided to asylees after the U.S. Border Patrol began releasing them in the city, citing overwhelmed facilities.
The fund is endowed through the city's share of lease payments made by Memorial Medical Center's private operators, and used for the benefit of sick and indigent populations. These typically consist of donations to local community nonprofits but in recent fiscal years has also been tapped for public health emergencies.