WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tony Gonzales (TX-23) on Tuesday highlighted the importance of Operation Stonegarden on border security and law enforcement during the FY2022 Homeland Security and Defense Appropriations markup. Congressman Gonzales shared the story of a 35-year-old Ecuadorian man who was rescued by a Culberson County sheriff. Unfortunately, the man’s 15-year-old son was found dead a few feet away from his father.

Operation Stonegarden is a critical grant program that allows local law enforcement agencies, like the Culberson County Sheriff’s Department, to augment border patrol’s efforts at the southern border.

Watch the full remarks here.

Transcript

“Let me share a story with you. Imagine you are 35 years old. Imagine you live in a foreign country with very few opportunities. You scrape together 8,000 dollars to pay to the local cartel: 4,000 for you and 4,000 for your 15-year-old son. You make the dangerous trek from Ecuador to the United States. There you start the journey to make it into the United States illegally. You’re with a group and your group leaves you.

Here you are in the Chihuahuan Desert alone, just you and your son. For three days you are in search of water, you’re lost and you’re in search of help. On day three, your fifteen-year-old son dies, and he dies a horrible death. He dies from lack of water. You find cover underneath an old, abandoned truck. There you are waiting for your turn to die, but you don’t die. Somebody saves you. That somebody was the local sheriff. The local sheriff comes across, finds you and saves your life. Sadly, they didn’t make it in time to save your son’s life.

These are the things that are happening every single day. Operation Stonegarden funds are critical to local law enforcement that are saving lives. If we don’t fund them - if the federal government does not offer them grants - guess where that money is coming from? It’s coming from a small county - like Hudspeth County - that has very limited resources.

So, I urge my colleagues, to please consider funding Operation Stonegarden to the levels it needs. Not only for the law enforcement piece, but to save lives, innocent lives, people that are just trying to come to America to make a better life for themselves. Operation Stonegarden allows local law enforcement to help do just that.”