El Paso County extends disaster declaration to recoup Operation Lone Star costs

El Paso County Commissioners on Monday voted to extend a Disaster Declaration, in a bid to secure state funding that will recoup some of the county's costs associated with Operation Lone Star.

According to El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, certain criteria have to be met if the county is to receive money spent on housing migrants arrested as part of the state's crackdown on illegal immigration.

Samaniego said that the county has discussed the need for funding with Borderland immigrant advocacy groups, and stressed that the declaration does not call for additional state law enforcement in the community.

"It does not mean in any way that we're asking for law enforcement or asking for more support here," said Samaniego. "This is part of the criteria to get the funding."

Incidentally, the number of migrants coming through El Paso has dipped in recent months; so much so that last week a local church, Sacred Heart, closed its shelter operations.

Nevertheless, Samaniego said, the county has already housed hundreds of migrants on state charges, meaning it's ineligible for federal reimbursements.

"Instead of having federal inmates, we now have state inmates, and because we have state inmates, we don't get reimbursed by the federal government," said Samaniego, adding that the 700 beds the county could once offer the federal government have since been whittled down to 57.

"We're now at a maybe $10, $15 million loss of revenue," said Samaniego. "[The state] won't cover that full amount, but I think there's a huge amount that we could use right now to help us to go forward."

Given that migrant numbers are down, Samaniego said that the state occupancy rate for federal beds has remained steady.

However, the monetary damage has already been done.

"That's a big hit for the county," said Samaniego. "We count a lot on federal money for inmates and we haven't been able to recuperate that revenue."