Federal and state officials have denied Pima County Supervisors’ request to use Operation Stonegarden grant funding towards reimbursement costs related to humanitarian aid, according to a Dec. 26 memo from County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry.
Last May, the supervisors voted 3-2 to accept the controversial grant, with a condition stating more than $200,000 of that money should cover the cost of housing and providing services to the large influx of asylum seekers experienced during that time.
Democratic Supervisor Sharon Bronson was the swing vote and sided with Republican Supervisors Ally Miller and Steve Christy to approve the funding. Democratic Supervisors Ramón Valadez and Richard Elías voted against the measure.
Community activists who oppose the use of Operation Stonegarden in Pima County say the program promotes collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration agents, which targets immigrant communities within Southern Arizona.
When the supervisors approved it, activists criticized their decision and said the plan to use federal money for humanitarian aid reimbursement would not work.
Now their criticisms have been validated, as Huckelberry explained in his memo that the county learned “indirectly” from Sheriff Mark Napier that US Border Patrol (USBP) and the Arizona Department of Homeland Security (AZDHS) denied their request. He said the reasons used to deny the request were “seriously flawed,” but the department has the authority to do so “unilaterally without appeal.”
Huckelberry wrote that USBP and AZDHS were concerned that the supervisors had previously rejected the Stonegarden funding in 2017. That decision was made after intense public criticism over the partnership between the sheriff’s department and federal immigration authorities such as Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In a letter from USBP Chief of Law Enforcement Operations Brian Hastings and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Assistant Administrator Bridget Bean, AZDHS was informed that Pima County’s request for the reimbursement funds were denied because they believe “there is no border security operational benefit derived from this reallocation request.”
They also wrote that while reviewing the request for humanitarian aid reimbursement, they took into consideration “the previous voluntary return of over $1.2 million in FY17 operational funds by Pima County, which resulted in the loss of over 11,000 Operation Stonegarden-funded overtime hours.”
Huckelberry took issue with that point in his memo, saying Pima County’s previous rejection of the grant allowed the money to be reallocated to other agencies. Essentially, it was not a loss of funds.
He also argued in a response letter to AZDHS Director Gilbert Orrantia that local non-governmental community organizations were so overwhelmed by the influx of asylum seekers that the county had to take action, or else Border Patrol would have had to “deal with the ill-will from releasing several thousand asylum seekers to the streets of Tucson.”
Huckelberry asked Orrantia if there is any possibility the county can appeal the rejection, but has yet to hear back. For now, the possibility of the county receiving reimbursements for the cost of housing asylum seekers within the Pima County Juvenile Justice Complex remains uncertain.
This article appears in Jan 2-8, 2020.
And this is why Pima County voters are always so reluctant to vote yes on any funding increase for the county.
The sheriff already knew the Pima County Board was reluctant to accept the strings-attached money from the Federal Government, but he went ahead and budgeted to get the money anyway.
Now that the Federal Government has said no to the use for humanitarian aid — a totally predictable response given the present administration’s markedly inhumane treatment of immigrants — the sheriff is looking for the board to OK accepting the money or face a “budget” shortfall.
Now, if the board wants to maintain its moral highground, they are going to have to take money from somewhere else, or raise it through taxes, fee increases, or other stealing-from-Paul-to-pay-Peter means.
Hold onto your wallets folks, the sheriff just wrote a check the county won’t cash leaving Pima County residents holding the bag.
https://www.kgun9.com/border-watch/sheriff…
Folks, yes I do read the Weekly.
I have advocated for humanitarian aid because I believe in it. Unfortunately, even though allowed by the federal rules, they turned down our request to allocate a small portion of Stonegarden funds toward humanitarian aid. During this time, HB3401 was passed. It contains grant funding to specifically to address humanitarian aid for communities addressing the crisis associated with asylum-seeking migrants. Pima County can, and should, apply for funding from HB3401. I would fully support doing so. With respect to Stonegarden funding, I do support the county accepting it as it has for more than a decade. I know this is disquieting and disagreeable to some. However, we do face many public safety challenges with respect to our proximity to the international border. Drug and human trafficking are issues for our community. Stonegarden funding allowed me to deploy more resources to the address of these issues and purchase equipment with those funds rather than ours. We are not in the business of proactive enforcement of immigration laws and will not be on my watch. In fact, we do not have the authority to enforce immigration laws. We do collaborate and work with our federal partners on public safety issues. Do we occasionally come across undocumented persons while doing so, yes. It is actually very infrequent. I understand the apparent entanglement with Border Patrol is disagreeable to many of you. However, the resource and intelligence sharing that we engage in is valuable to public safety.
I hope you can understand my point of view and appreciate the time taken to convey it in this venue. We likely may not agree, but should always seek to do so in a respectful manner.
Thanks, and Happy New Year.
Sheriff Napier
Sheriff Napier,
May I be the first to thank you for your comment and candor regarding the use of Federal funds to further local law enforcement efforts.
Likewise, I appreciate the fiscal predicament not accepting the funds would present, but you must agree that in light of the policies coming out of Washington recently the use of such funds may make Pima County and your office more beholding than ever to the political whims and winds blowing across the Potomac.
Now is the time to stand firm against Federal government over reach into our community — even when it is sweetened with cash.
If our MO is to oppose anything coming out of Washington this country will fall. Find some common ground and move forward. Resist is a failed strategy.
In other news, border enforcement funds were also not allowed to be used to buy crayons for kindergarteners or help fund the county’s animal shelter.
It is bad enough that the county seen fit to use a tax payer building to house illegals and now they wanted to reallocate federal funding to protect our borders to support them? Huckyberry, just don’t get it, we already slapped his extra funding down he wanted for roads because he seems fit to do want ever he wants with our tax dollars, like road repair funds for soccer fields. The only thing I would support is loading them onto a bus and dropping them off in Mexico, but that would mean huckyberry finally using tax dollars for what they where meant to be used for. So tell me Hucky, what is it like making $300 grand, plus a car and a house off of tax payers? Maybe you can use some of that to support the illegals?
While Sheriff Napier claims the deployment of his deputies under Operation Stonegarden is not about proactive enforcement of immigration laws, the Stonegarden Operations Order his deputies operate under says something quite different. Specifically, under Stonegarden, participating deputies are required to closely coordinate their deployments with U.S. Border Patrol watch commanders and conduct zero tolerance traffic contacts in furtherance of U.S. Border Patrol, not Pima County, objectives. Indeed, all activities undertaken by Pima County deputies under the program must be pre-approved by the Border Patrol and deputies must check in and check out with their Border Patrol handlers when starting or ending their Stonegarden shifts. Further, daily activity reports regarding deputy activity under the program must be filed with the U.S. Border Patrol and deputies are prohibited from engaging in normal public safety duties or any activity that isn’t directly related to the Border Patrol’s objectives and mission while on the Stonegarden clock.
To see how this Operations Order has played out in reality, one need only look at the Stonegarden citation to traffic stop statistics over a five year period. Deputies conducted well over 40,000 traffic stops between 2012 and 2017 but only 13.4% of those stops resulted in a citation. The national average however is over 60% indicating that the vast majority of traffic stops made by deputies under Stonegarden were not based on reasonable suspicion or probable cause, but rather profiling in furtherance of Border Patrol objectives. Additionally, deputies were routinely stationed at Border Patrol immigration checkpoints in Pima County during this time frame that were already fully staffed by federal agents.
Far from expanding public safety in Pima County, Stonegarden is all about using the general law enforcement powers of local law enforcement to expand the U.S. Border Patrol’s reach into local communities.
Isn’t that much like the National Guard being called in on riots and natural disasters? They also assist local law enforcement.
There must be something bigger at play here,…like drug running cartels or human smuggling and sex slaves(?)….hmmm.