Why two border counties are joining Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star after migration slows

MCALLEN, Texas (AP) — Migrant encounters at the Texas-Mexico border have declined for months. Even so, one county along the border just declared a disaster, citing a surge in migrants.

After declining to do so for years, Starr County commissioners signed the disaster declaration to qualify for additional state money through Texas’ Operation Lone Star, according to Starr County Judge Eloy Vera. The move comes as Texas lawmakers are proposing to pour $6.5 billion in border security efforts over the next two years and state leaders continue to pressure state agencies to cooperate with President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans.

“It was brought to my attention by three departments — the DA, the sheriff and the county attorney — that the county, this year, if we did not sign, would lose anywhere between $5 to $8 million in county revenues,” Vera said during a meeting of the county commissioners. “I’m not going to do anything that would hurt or jeopardize, in any fashion, the county so that’s the reason that I had a change of heart.”

For years, the county had opted out of declaring an emergency since they were not using any resources to address migrant arrivals. El Paso County had also resisted signing a disaster declaration until the cost of housing and other needs for migrants became unmanageable and they relented last year.

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Starr County didn’t have such expenses.

“We didn’t have the court fees, we didn’t have to house them at the jail, we didn’t feed them,” Vera said. “They were taken to either Webb County or Hidalgo to be processed so we really didn’t have any disaster.”

But the county was leaving money on the table. Starr County District Attorney Gocha Ramirez said new grants could allow them to hire additional staff to prosecute border-related cases such as trespassing and drug smuggling cases which he said they currently don’t have the staff to prioritize.

“We have many, many cases so sometimes they do sit there for a while,” Ramirez said.

Local agencies can receive up to $5 million through Operation Lone Star to cover the costs of additional personnel, equipment, supplies, contractual support, travel, and training in support of the border security mission.

Gov. Greg Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in 2021 in response to a high number of migrant crossings, which he blamed on immigration policies under President Joe Biden. As part of the program, the state deployed Texas National Guard soldiers and troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety to the border.

Starr County, specifically, became a focal point of Texas leaders’ commitment to assist the Trump Administration in their deportation plans after the Texas General Land Office offered a 1,400-acre ranch here as a site to build detention centers.

Applying for Operation Lone Star funds became a priority for Starr County following the termination of the Local Border Security Program that funded projects in support of Operation Border Star, a border initiative started under Gov. Rick Perry in 2007 to reduce border-related criminal activity.

The elimination of the program for the 2026 fiscal year is also prompting neighboring Hidalgo County to seek money through Operation Lone Star for the first time this year, according to Hidalgo County Sheriff J. E. “Eddie” Guerra.

Guerra said those grants would supplement their investigative division by paying for overtime work, and special operations such as those dealing with narcotics and weapons.

Last year, the Hidalgo County sheriff’s office received $233,000 through the Local Border Security Program.

Without it, the state left them no choice but to apply for Operation Lone Star funds.

“If we want these funds we’re going to have to apply,” Guerra said.

Though Hidalgo County has not applied for Operation Lone Star funds before, cities in the county such as Mission and Donna have received money in the past.

Despite this being the first year applying to the program, Hidalgo County has been under a disaster declaration due to migrant apprehensions since August 2021. In issuing the declaration, the county cited the need to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants released into the county and, particularly, McAllen where they can receive shelter, food and other assistance at the respite center run by Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley.

At the time, the large number of asylum seekers testing positive for COVID-19 prompted the city, in cooperation with the county, to open an emergency shelter inside a 15-acre county park located along the Rio Grande.

Guerra has some reservations about participating in Operation Lone Star. The sheriff said he is concerned about charging migrants with criminal trespassing if they enter the U.S. through private property, a tactic employed as part of the state initiative to deter migrants from crossing the Texas-Mexico border. However, the current low levels of migrant crossings lead him to believe there won’t be many of those cases.

“If you look at our numbers, the way they are today, it’s next to nothing,” he said.

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This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.