El Paso County has declared an emergency as costs for jailing and prosecuting people on state charges under Operation Lone Star mount.
The county has spent an estimated $10.1 million dollars for processing and holding state inmates the past three years. And an additional $1 million in court costs related to Texas’ border enforcement initiative. That’s according to the county’s Criminal Justice Coordination department.
“We’ve gotten to the point where it’s just not sustainable and we believe that the Governor should be the one paying for these increased enforcement actions and not the citizens of El Paso,” Holguin said.
While many Texas counties, including some not located near the border, declared an emergency to tap into state funds, El Paso held out until this week.
“We’ve always been against issuing a declaration of emergency that would feed into this narrative that you hear about the dangerousness of the border and the horrible language you hear coming from people in other parts of the state talking about invasions,” said Iliana Holguin, the commissioner of Precinct 3.
County commissioners voted unanimously on Monday to submit a grant application to Governor Greg Abbott’s office. If approved, the funds would be used to cover the cost of processing and jailing inmates arrested under Abbott’s border enforcement initiative.
So far this year, 686 people have been arrested by the Texas Department of Public Safety in El Paso. Most were charged with “riot participation.” Since 2021, most arrests have been "human smuggling" related.
The county is on pace to match or exceed the 748 people arrested last year.
“We’ve been trying to cut expenses but it’s just not sustainable. We need the state to step in and provide funding for these massive increases in arrests conducted by DPS troopers enforcing these criminal statutes at the direction of Governor Abbott..” Holguin said.
The county will also request the Governor's approval to use Texas Department of Criminal Justice facilities to house state arrestees rather than taking up local jail space.
And the county is applying for grants from Texas’ Indigent Defense Commission to pay for the defense of individuals arrested under Operation Lone Star. Right now, the county covers that cost.
County Judge Ricardo Samaniego's Tuesday disaster declaration is required to access the funds.
In December 2022, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser declared a state of emergency when thousands of migrants were arriving in order to get logistical support from the state. Instead, the governor sent troops to stand guard at the border.
Revenue from federal contract in jeopardy
The county is covering the cost for people jailed on state border enforcement charges and El Paso is losing federal money because it does not have space to house federal inmates.
The federal government pays $101 a day for federal inmates and also reimburses the county for medical costs if an inmate gets sick. Those dollars are a major source of funding for the jails.
“We have discussed the impacts of Operation Lone Star not being financially sustainable for the county without impacting other county services and local taxpayers, ” county chief administrator Besty Keller told County Commissioners.
Keller said the county is projecting an $18.2 million loss in revenue from its federal contract next year because of limited space at county jails.
In total, DPS has arrested 1,608 people since 2021.
In that time, a total of 1,217 have been arrested for smuggling at a cost of $9.7 million. Eight arrests have involved serious bodily injury or death.
As of Wednesday, 296 people had been arrested in 2024 on human smuggling charges.
In March and April, daily arrests spiked when two large groups of migrants were taken into custody after knocking down a chain link fence topped with concertina wire put up by Texas National Guard troops up near the border. Seven individuals faced felony charges for assault.
Most of the 389 people who rushed across were arrested on misdemeanor “riot participation charges.” County criminal court judge Ruben Morales has dismissed almost all of those charges. The migrants arrested still spent time in the county jail, some as many as ten days at a cost a total of $386,426.
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