The federal government will send $2.3 million to the Texas National Guard this year as part of a four-state border security preparedness program, Lt. Col. Travis Walters said Monday.

Washington will also take control over the 100 guardsmen stationed along the Texas-Mexico border who had been sent there as part of the state’s border security campaign. (Depending on their mission, National Guard units take orders from either the president or the governor.)

Gov. Greg Abbott framed the news as a sign that the federal government is finally recognizing Texas’ role in handling a surge in asylum-seeking immigrants from violence-stricken Central American countries that began in the summer of 2014 and overwhelmed immigration authorities.

"The taxpayers of Texas have funded border security, a federal responsibility, for far too long," Abbott said in a statement. "I am grateful that the federal government and Congressional appropriators are stepping up and dedicating additional resources to provide for the safety and security of all Texans."

The $2.3 million in funding, however, will pay for Texas National Guard activities going forward and will not reimburse the state for the $2.8 billion it has spent on its unprecedented state-level border security campaign. State lawmakers this year approved another $800 million in funding for 2018 and 2019.

Then-Gov. Rick Perry began the state’s border surge by activating the Texas National Guard in 2014. Their ranks along the Rio Grande peaked at about 1,000 guardsmen in the fall of that year, Walters said, but have since dwindled to about 100 as the state transitioned to having Department of Public Safety troopers take the lead.

Although they will be under federal direction, the 100 guardsmen currently at the border will perform essentially the same role going forward, Walters said.

Through the program, the federal government will also be funding National Guard units in New Mexico, Arizona and California, he said.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, on Monday called the state’s border security a "boondoggle" and noted that the new federal money amounts to less than 1 percent of what state lawmakers have asked the federal government for as reimbursement.

"Neither the Texas Department of Public Safety nor the Texas National Guard should become border patrol nor immigration officers," he said. "And the results from several years of their presence on the border shows a giant gap between political promises and facts on the ground."