Cuts to a Texas border-security effort have created a jail space shortage, causing thousands of outstanding warrants tied to human smuggling and trespassing across the southern border to go unserved, according to a border sheriff.
Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe said the dramatic drop in illegal border crossings under the Trump administration has led to state budget cuts in Operation Lone Star in anticipation of Texas receiving federal funding to secure the border.
In the meantime, there are thousands of outstanding arrest warrants for illegal immigrants, Coe told The Epoch Times.
“I’ve got literally almost 3,000 warrants for criminal trespass and human smuggling related to all of this,” Coe said. “The surrounding counties are the same shape [as] I’m in because they have a large number of warrants also.”
Without jail space, the illegal immigrants can’t be picked up on warrants and processed.
Once arrested, many are released on bail and are required to appear for a court date, which they sometimes skip, he said. Others may not follow the terms of their probation. Both situations would trigger arrest warrants.
As a result, he said, these illegal immigrants are “out there running around happy and free.”
Kinney County doesn’t have its own jail and must find bed space elsewhere in the state. Small sheriff’s offices don’t have budgets to cover the cost of jailing those with outstanding warrants when the cost is about $70 per day, he said.
Operation Lone Star converted three Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) facilities into county jails. About 14 counties could jail those arrested for border-related offenses for free, with the state picking up the tab, he said.
Coe said border czar Tom Homan is aware of the situation, but there’s not much he can do since most are state warrants.
Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith said he got an email recently from TDCJ saying that it will accept only newly arrested inmates under Operation Lone Star, not bench warrants, such as those issued for not showing up for a court date.
Smith told The Epoch Times that funding for county grants from Operation Lone Star expires Aug. 31, 2025, so he assumes the money for jail space will also be available until then.
Selene Rodriguez, who heads the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Secure and Sovereign Texas campaign, said during the regular legislative session, the general appropriation bill for the state had originally allocated $6 billion for Operation Lone Star, but that was cut in half during the last leg of the session.
She said the Legislature may be able to add money back for jails under one of the special legislative provisions. Sheriff Coe added that running the temporary jails costs about $50 million per year.
Gov. Greg Abbott called a July 21 special session in Austin, identifying 18 agenda items for further legislation that wasn’t passed during the 89th Legislative Session. None specifically deals with the border, which could hinder efforts to fund temporary jails.
Texas is scheduled to get money for border security under Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Rodriguez said, but added that the local sheriffs need help now.
“There is increased funding for states and localities, but not immediately, and it’s going to take a while for that funding to trickle down,” she said.
“There wasn’t any publicity or messaging,” she said of the cut.
That agency will take over border security operations in the state, which may account for the cuts to Operation Lone Star, she said.
“I don’t know how long it’s going to take before we see that because that’s a big function change for DPS and all of the other agencies that are involved as well,” she said.
