MCALLEN – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was in the Rio Grande Valley Saturday.

CHANNEL 5 NEWS spoke with the governor about the reimbursement the city of McAllen is asking for. It regards money the city gave to the respite center, as part of the humanitarian effort with Sacred Heart Church, during the influx of people here illegally coming over to the U.S.

The city of McAllen said they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on everything from tents to security.

McAllen Mayor Jim Darling said FEMA sent out a memo yesterday stating they are eligible for reimbursement. 

"We haven't formally applied for the money, so we'll probably do that next week. And hopefully if the governor agrees with the FEMA memo, we'll get reimbursed,” Darling said.

“The next step would be for McAllen to submit an application and then see how the application matches up with what the law allows. It's a process of doing that, but the first thing we had to do was receive the letter yesterday from FEMA authorizing it. Second, we need to see the application (from the city) and then we can process it,” Abbott said.

Darling said he hopes to the get the reimbursement soon.