Texas lawmakers freed up roughly $1 billion in federal coronavirus aid to help pay for their campaign to arrest migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, exposing gaps in a law meant to bolster the country’s response to the ongoing pandemic.
But the program also has been expensive, and to help pay for it, Texas has eased the financial burden using money received under a 2020 law meant to help states battle the coronavirus. The state did so through a series of little-noticed “swaps,” in the words of one aide to the governor, who explained the setup to state lawmakers at a hearing in early April.
“At this point, they’re just trying to go back and refinance state payroll expenses to come up with general revenue that can be spent today,” said Eva DeLuna Castro, a program director overseeing fiscal and budget policy for Every Texan, a left-leaning advocacy group that has argued for more health-care and education spending.
Dating back to the earliest days of the crisis, Congress approved a series of rescue packages that in total set aside about $500 billion for local governments believed to be in financial peril. The money complemented the trillions of dollars in direct housing, education, health-care and nutrition assistance that lawmakers asked states to manage and disburse with record speed.
Two months after launching Operation Lone Star, the Texas legislature took a critical budgetary step that appeared to ease the cost burden of its new immigration program. Lawmakers in May 2021 approved a supplemental plan to tap $2.4 billion under the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund, which it put to use on salaries for public health and safety employees, according to state budget documents.
Sarah Hicks, an adviser to Abbott on the budget, acknowledged the $480 million transfer and explained the governor’s strategy — an effort to “maximize that use” of federal funds on public health “to the benefit” of the state’s coffers.Hicks would go on to fault the federal government for failing to provide direct border assistance to Texas, adding there is a “strong possibility next spring that Congress looks a little bit different” since “elections ultimately matter.
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