Application for border security grant sparks heated debate at Council meeting

El Paso City Council’s approval of an application for a Homeland Security grant sparked heated debate during Tuesday’s meeting, with a city representative questioning how the information gathered will be used.

The vote to approve the submission of the grant application was approved 5-2. City Representatives Peter Svarbein and Alexsandra Annello voted against applying for the grant. City Representative Cissy Lizarraga was not present.

The Local Border Security grant, which is funded by the state of Texas, would provide $854,400 to pay city police officers to work overtime with the Border Patrol. The program is meant to enhance border security and reduce crime. The assignment would be voluntary.

El Paso Police officers would use city vehicles, but would work during their off hours. The grant would pay for the officers’ overtime. The El Paso Police Department has received the grant since 2012.

El Paso Assistant Police Chief Patrick Maloney said officers would not be doing the job of Border Patrol agents. Instead, they would be engaged in intelligence gathering and prevention of terrorism operations.

Svarzbein and Annello questioned how the information gathered, such as license plate numbers, would be used and shared.

“I have a lot of concerns over this, over the use of the governor’s office and homeland security for maintaining our public’s information, when we look at the immigration issues that are happening in our region with SB4,” Anello said, referring to a state law cracking down on so-called “sanctuary cities.”

“It seems the information gathered would only serve to support SB4 and really harm our community,” Svarzbein said.

Maloney said the information could be requested, but would not be automatically shared with a federal agency.

City Representative Michiel Noe defended the work of federal agents. “It’s a political view that Homeland Security is innately evil and that everybody should be able to walk across our borders, no questions asked. And anybody that even attempts to do anything to stop that should be defunded,” Noe said.

Concerns were also raised about the potential wear and tear on police vehicles during the overtime operations. The grant money would be used between September 2018 and August 2019.