STARR COUNTY, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Starr County Judge Eloy Vera assured residents they should not be alarmed by the county’s recent disaster declaration over immigration. He said there is no major problem brewing.
“The last message we want to send out there is that we are at war or something like that or that we are in chaos,” Vera said. “It is not.”
Vera said the disaster declaration is a way to bring more funds to the area. However, one resident says the situation is not as bad as it is in other places along the border.
“It’s kind of like saying, well, it’s we have a fire, you know, and everybody shows up, and then there’s no fire,” said Marcus C. Canales, Rio Grande City resident. “To say that it’s a disaster might be stretching the word a little bit. Yes, people cross illegally through Rio, but they are going somewhere else. They’re not staying there in Rio.”
Canales lives a few feet away from the border in Rio Grande City and sees Border Patrol and the National Guard patrolling constantly.
“It’s a border town, and we’re going to have people crossing and so forth. But it’s not like masses of people,” Canales added. “There’s not masses coming through.”
Vera said he was hesitant at first to sign it. But, local law enforcement told him the county was losing out on necessary funds.
“To me, the immigrant situation in Starr County did not qualify for disaster when this thing first started,” he said. “The reason why I say that is because yeah we were having immigrants coming across by the hundreds but it didn’t cost the county anything because they would come across and turn themselves into immigration, CBP.”
Vera said the numbers have dropped even more in recent months but a consultant hired by the county told them they could get between $5 million to $8 million more for border security measures if they applied to the program.
He hopes that money enhances local law enforcement capabilities.
“Better equipment to fight crime in our community,” Vera said. “Not only the influx of immigrants but also drugs and other things. We will have more boots on the ground and better technology, so all that would help us enforce the law.”
Vera added that no residents should be concerned because of the declaration.
“By declaring this, I hope it doesn’t send out a stigma to companies and people that are looking to move out here to Starr County or to the border that we have chaos, we don’t,” Vera said. “We don’t.”
By the end of the month, Starr County must submit a budget detailing how much money they need. The state will then review the data in March and decide as to how much they qualify for.
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