County officials issued a disaster declaration Tuesday, saying the state’s mass arrests at the border have cost the county millions of dollars and overwhelmed its criminal justice system.
A Mexican migrant waits to be transported after being arrested for trespassing on private property near the border by Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers as part of Operation Lone Star on Nov. 9, 2021. El Paso County leaders say a recent surge in migrant arrests by the state has cost the border county millions of dollars and spurred them to issue a disaster declaration this week — a move they have avoided for more than two years.
El Pasoans have been reluctant to align themselves with that mission for fear of sowing distrust in a community known for welcoming new migrants. But the need for state funds has become dire, Samaniego told The Texas Tribune in an interview this week, leaving the county with no choice but to issue the declaration.
That contract reimburses the county $110 per day per federal inmate, said Ryan Urrutia, assistant chief deputy for the county sheriff’s office. Basic services cost the county $101 a day, so the county earns a profit of $9 a day on federal inmates, Urrutia said. “They have put us in a very precarious situation financially,” Stout said. “If the federal government can reimburse us for their inmates, I don’t understand why the state can’t.”
The district attorney’s office is also in talks with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice about transferring OLS inmates from the El Paso County Jail to the Rogelio Sanchez State Jail in El Paso. County commissioners this week also authorized the county to apply for funding from the Texas Indigent Defense Commission to pay for legal assistance for state detainees.
“There’s no crisis, there’s no emergency, there’s no disaster” on the border, said Stout, the county commissioner. “It’s more of political rhetoric than anything else.”
Border Security Criminal Justice U.S./Mexico Border State Government Immigration El Paso County Texas Legislature
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