An extra $30 million in Operation Lone Star (OLS) grant cash is readily available to Texas counties and cities to improve border security operations, the Governor’s Public Safety Office (PSO) revealed.
The statement came 2 days after 6 county judges and constables asked the governor to declare an invasion at the southern border, and to do more to help them ward off unlawful activity in their counties after experiencing a rise of drug and human smuggling and other criminal activity arising from the Biden administration’s border policies.
“While the Biden Administration has abandoned border communities, the State of Texas will support them and help them respond to the disaster that President Biden has caused on the border,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement. “Operation Lone Star grant funding has played an integral role in our mission to keep Texans safe and support local communities. I encourage local governments to apply for these funds as we work together to prevent illegal immigration and the smuggling of people, illegal weapons, and deadly drugs like fentanyl from Mexico into Texas.”
Additional grant funding includes$16 million for any county or city; grant applications might be sent starting Monday, July 11, when the online system opens.
The last date to send and license applications was Aug. 31. The earliest task start date was Aug. 1.
Another $14 million for border-adjacent counties were be offered start, Sept. 1.
The PSO is administering the grant financing and interested candidates can call it at 512-463-1919 or [email protected].
City and County government entities qualified to request the funding are those that are located in a county that has actually provided a disaster declaration related to border security and will get preferred status. Qualified candidates located in or offering support services to a county that’s nearby to or situated within 20 miles of an international border will likewise be offered preference.
Those situated adjacent to two counties situated on an international border with a population of more than 5,000 and less than 7,500 according to the most current federal decennial census or adjacent to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway will likewise be provided preference.
Jurisdictions not physically situated within these counties but applying to supply assistance to counties that are should send a letter of support, memorandum of understanding, or other comparable paperwork from the border county or counties requesting their assistance when they use.
Abbott introduced the OLS Grant Program in September 2021 with a preliminary $100 million offered to reinforce Texas’ border security efforts. All qualified to request the preliminary financing have actually been satisfied, amounting to $58 million in awards. The rest, $42 million, is still readily available.
The financing is a part of the $4 billion the state legislature has actually up until now assigned for Texas’ border security efforts.
The PSO grant program was produced to boost interagency border security operations that support Operation Lone Star, “including funding to help deter and interdict criminal activity related to the border crisis.” Financing goes towards increasing OLS’ efficiency through a series of interdiction efforts connected to drug and human smuggling, interrupting and discouraging operations of gang and cartel criminal companies, enhancing interagency intelligence and coordination, increasing capability for detention operations, and supporting county medical inspector workplaces in the humane processing of the remains of those who got in Texas unlawfully and were eliminated or passed away making the journey.
Financing will likewise support regions to increase capability and efficiency in case preparation, magistration, pre/post-adjudication procedures, and criminal trials of OLS offenders in addition to supply an indigent defense to OLS accuseds in pre/post-adjudication procedures, and criminal trials.
H/T Just The News