Stonegarden Funds and Other Grants Suspended in Starr County

County Judge Looking to Make up Shortfall

A huge snag for local authorities in Starr County, down in the Rio Grande Valley, as news comes this week that funding from various grants like the federal government’s “Operation Stonegarden” grant is being suspended.

Valerie Gonzalez, from the RGV’s “The Monitor” confirmed the news with Starr County Judge Eloy Vera, Friday— saying County Commissioners would make up the shortfall.

Vera says it’s happening because Starr County is behind on their auditing, which makes lending agencies liable to take this sort of an action. It seems like it could hardly come at a worse time. The Rio Grande Valley typically sees some of the largest numbers of illegal aliens in Texas, because the terrain isn’t quite as harsh as other parts of Texas, and it’s a shorter distance for Central Americans to travel.

Operation Stonegarden is a big deal for many communities along the border, paying for salaries and equipment for local Sheriff’s deputies who pitch in and aid federal efforts.

Starr County’s auditor is pointing to several factors, including lost working time because of Covid, a hurricane, and the snow-pocalypse that affected the Texas power grid this year.

There has been some small concern in Kinney County about possibly losing the Stonegarden grant. It’s worth about $600,000 dollars to the county— a very tidy sum for a small sparsely populated, cash-strapped border county.

The theory goes, that officials in Washington might yank the grant, as payback for the county’s participation in a federal lawsuit aimed at overturning certain directives the White House has issued to the U.S. Border Patrol that some federal agents say is forcing them to release potentially dangerous illegal aliens into the interior of the country.

Numerous agents have provided sworn affidavits for the lawsuit by several border counties, including Kinney County, trying to force the government to reverse these instructions.

Federal monies are frequently dangled in front of local governments, in order to get them to comply with certain directives.   Federal monies can also be taken away.  Perhaps the biggest example of this over the years was how the Government forced states to implement the 55 mile per hour speed limit, back in the 1970s.   States that did not comply faced the loss of all federal highway maintenance monies. 

"It's something we've talked about, and tried to plan for," said Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe.  "There are some things coming up in the special session that could address it."

That federal lawsuit is set for a hearing soon in Galveston County, it comes in parallel to another lawsuit that was filed by the Attorney Generals of Texas and Missouri in Amarillo, that aimed to force the White House to re-instate the Trump “Remain in Mexico” policy that required asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while waiting for their asylum hearings.

The Attorney Generals won the lawsuit— but “Remain in Mexico” remains on hold. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito granted a small delay— giving the Biden Administration more time for a full hearing in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, and possibly the Supreme Court as well.

What ever happens in the courts may not matter— the “Remain in Mexico” policy requires co-operation from the Mexican government. So far, Mexico says they’ve received no communications from the U.S. about it.