The enforcement of immigration policy and securing of US borders is, in principle, the responsibility of the various agencies under The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) including Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and Internal Customs Enforcement (ICE). However, in many border states there are national or statewide policies that encourage or enlist the help of local law enforcement. One such example we briefly touched on in a previous article over Operation Lone Star. Another such example is Operation Stonegarden.
Operation Stonegarden is a federal grant program under the State Homeland Security Grants division administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The program offers grants for local, state and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund their joint efforts with national agencies to secure US borders. FEMA delegates funding to states with high levels of migratory traffic, international borders or borders with international waters. States then offer subgrants to law enforcement agencies that have been assessed by CBP as at risk to the security of the border as well as having effective proposed projects
Law enforcement agencies that receive grant funding can use the funds for a variety of things such as personnel-related costs, overtime, vehicle rentals, mileage and fuel costs, as well as other equipment all related to deployment to the border. The success of grantees are measured by the number of arrests both criminal and migrant, and the value of drug seizures by agencies.
Started in 2006, the program’s budget has since accrued to $90 million as of 2019 with a majority of the funds being sent to the US-Mexico border. However, at the start of February this year US House Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) introduced the Border Operations Strengthened by Stonegarden Act or BOSS Act to the House asking to double the budget of Operation Stonegarden to $180 million. The bill is claimed to be in response to the Biden administration’s handling of the border and comes a week after 80 House Republicans asked the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tae Johnson about a DHS report that 47,705 migrants released from ICE custody with the promise of reporting their whereabouts as needed failed to honor their Notice to Report between March and August of 2021.
However, Operation Stonegarden has faced criticism on multiple fronts. The program has a history in lack of oversight of its grant recipients and for eroding trust between law enforcement agencies and minority communities. By requiring local law enforcement to engage in immigration policy localities are diverting resources away from crime reduction and hindering relationships developed with minority communities. Operation Stonegarden was also found in a 2017 report by the DHS Office of Inspector General to have not met the responsibilities of oversight over recipients of its grants. From fiscal year 2011 to fiscal year 2014 FEMA had inadequate data collection and performance metrics and only examined 4 out of 79 of its grantees in its financial monitoring review process.
The program highlights the complex and indeterminate role state and local officials play in immigration policy, and the controversies in attempting to place border security on local law enforcement. We will continue to explore the relationship between Texas local law enforcement and immigration in future posts.