Will Monroe County reconsider Operation Stonegarden? - Rochester Beacon

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Plans to relocate the Rochester Border Patrol station from Irondequoit to the Federal Building downtown drew a volley of reactions last week, as concerns about immigration raids and detention grow. It also raises questions about a federal grant program Monroe County has renewed for years.

Operation Stonegarden, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, aims to foster collaboration between U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and local law enforcement. Monroe County has renewed this grant annually for the last 16 years. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office is the applicant.

Monroe County Legislator Rachel Barnhart says she believes the Trump administration’s actions on immigration cast a new light on renewing this program.

“It’s not just Stonegarden. ’It’s the fact Monroe County is not a sanctuary county, and the Sheriff actively collaborates with immigrant enforcement agencies. Some legislators have sought clarity and transparency, and we aren’t getting anywhere,” she says.

Barnhart brought this issue up last year. Some agree with her quest for clarity, while others stress that the grant is not used for immigration enforcement.

“The grant for Operation Stonegarden, in Monroe County, focuses on enhancing public safety by strengthening cooperation between local law enforcement and federal agencies to secure our borders,” said Legislature President Yversha Román last March, upon the grant’s renewal. “It is about supporting emergency response, preventing criminal activity, and protecting our community from terrorism—not about enforcing immigration laws or facilitating deportations.”

This year, Barnhart says, things are different.

“I don’t think you’d see the same number of legislators voting for Stonegarden today as you did a year ago,” says. “The (Customs and Border Protection) under Trump is not the same agency.”

In the past, the grant has come up for a renewal vote in the Monroe County Legislature each March. Deputy David Marcucci, public information officer at MCSO, says the office re-evaluates its grants annually and presents those opportunities to the Monroe County Legislature for a vote.

“Regarding participation in Operation Stonegarden, there is some local concern that law enforcement agencies who take part in this grant are doing so to assist with Immigration Control efforts,” Marcucci says. “This is a misconception and is not the purpose of Operation Stonegarden.”

The Beacon also reached out to several Monroe County legislators and County Executive Adam Bello for comment.

A history of approval

Operation Stonegarden provides annual funding to support collaborative border security as part of ICE’s 287(g) program under the Immigration and Nationality Act.** **

“The 287(g) Program benefits state and local law enforcement agencies in several ways,” reads a page on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement website, “but most notably, it helps you keep your community safe from potentially dangerous criminal aliens. Your law enforcement officers will get access to ICE resources and training.”

Amy Young, spokesperson for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, who responded to the Beacon’s first request, notes that the grant comes with the stipulation that the funds be used to “achieve objectives such as securing our international border from terroristic threats, dangerous weapons and materials, as well as criminal threats and smuggling operations. The grant agreement specifically states that funding is not to be used for immigration enforcement, and in no way requires the Sheriff to otherwise participate in any immigration enforcement operations.”

The first mention of an Operation Stonegarden grant approval in official meeting minutes came in 2016. That year, the Monroe County Legislature approved a grant for $83,574 to the Office of the Sheriff. It outlined that funds were to be used to “increase operational capabilities” along U.S. land and water borders as well as “to fund operational overtime during detail” from the period of Sept. 1, 2016 to Aug. 31, 2019.

Those documents also mention it was the eighth year the county had received the grant, meaning 2009 was the first year it was approved. The grant was regularly reapplied to and reapproved by the Legislature (unanimously until the latest vote) in the ensuing years.

In 2019, the towns of Greece and Irondequoit police departments were also each granted $25,000 through Operation Stonegarden for “overtime and equipment.” In 2020, the Webster police department was added as a local municipality to the grant and received $13,595.

The total amount of the grant has fluctuated over the years, with the MCSO receiving the bulk of the funds. The latest approval is for $235,516 (including the suburban locations) and represents the largest amount across the available years of data.

Responsibilities under the grant

Operation Stonegarden pertains to international land and water border states, localities and tribes. The governments in those states and territories are the administrative authorities determined by the CBP’s sector-specific border methodology, including the 100-mile border enforcement zone between New York and the Canadian border.

All law enforcement agencies along the international border are eligible for these funds, Marcucci says. In New York that includes 12 counties, each local police agency along the border, the New York State Police and the Department of Environmental Conservation.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, CBP can board vehicles and vessels and search for people without immigration documentation both without a warrant and “within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States, including international land borders as well as the entire U.S. coastline,” which Monroe County shares with Lake Ontario.

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office has used the grant to support counterterrorism and public safety initiatives along Lake Ontario, Young says. The agency’s operational philosophy has remained consistent through four presidential administrations, regardless of party, she says.

“Deputies do not stop or inquire based solely upon an individual’s immigration status,” Young says. “In the 16 years of participation in Operation Stonegarden, MCSO has not ever participated in any immigration enforcement activities and has never been asked to.”

Sanctuary policy designation is a highly political issue, she says, and “the Sheriff strives to keep politics separate from public safety.”

Marcucci reminds that the funding is distributed on “risk to the security of the border and the effectiveness of proposed projects.” The risk methodology is based on threat, vulnerability and consequence.

“The threat analysis continues to account for threats from domestic violent extremists, as well as international groups, and those inspired by terrorists abroad. This includes cross border criminal activity such as the smuggling of narcotics and weapons, along with human trafficking,” Marcucci says.

Data obtained by the Beacon through a public records request shows that the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office was involved in four immigration cases from 2017 to 2024. Three of those were in 2024. A year ago, an 18-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant was transferred from Monroe County Sheriff custody directly to U.S. Customs and Border Protection after the individual shared false identification with deputies.

Last year, the grant agreement for Operation Stonegarden funding passed 21-7, granting $152,257 for MCSO, $40,368 for the Greece police department, $33,791 for Irondequoit and $9,099 for Webster. Legislators Barnhart, Mercedes Vazquez Simmons, Linda Hasman, Albert Blankley, Carolyn Delvecchio Hoffman, Rose Bonnick and Susan Hughes-Smith voted against the legislation that would renew the grant for its 16th year.

At that time, Barnhart had requested details about the 287(g) agreement to understand the collaboration between local law enforcement and the federal government. No member of the Legislature was provided with the agreement during the recent vote to renew the grant, due to its confidential nature.

Marcucci stresses that Sheriff Todd Baxter has been “consistent in that MCSO has not, nor does it plan to, enter into any 287 (g), or similar agreements, to share immigration efforts with federal agencies absent any criminal activity.”

According to federal grant preparedness manuals reviewed by the Beacon, in fiscal 2024 the national priority for partners with Operation Stonegarden was to enhance information and intelligence sharing and analysis. In fiscal 2025, the national priority was supporting border crisis response and enforcement, including example training programs for state and local law enforcement agencies in immigration law, civil rights protections and federal immigration enforcement.

The funding would not be used for immigration-related actions or operations targeting the identification or detention of undocumented and non-citizen individuals, the County Legislature’s Democratic Caucus said last year. Instead, the program is dedicated to preventing illegal activities such as drug smuggling, animal smuggling and human trafficking.

“Monroe County will continue to prioritize the safety and protection of all residents, regardless of immigration status, ensuring a secure environment for everyone,” according to the Caucus statement. “The goal of this grant is to enhance border security through collaborative efforts with federal, state and local partners, while upholding the values of inclusion and support for our diverse community.”

“The question that I think we have to ask ourselves is, do we take the Sheriff at his word that this has nothing to do with immigration enforcement?” says Barnhart. “Or do we look at the facts at hand and say, they can’t say it never will. And they won’t provide us agreements and contracts with the federal government. We also can look around and see what’s going on around the country and here in our community. And say, ‘Maybe we should not collaborate with Customs and Border (Protection) at all.’”

Contentious environment

The news of the planned detention facility at the Kenneth B. Keating Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse offered a platform for many advocates and lawmakers. The building is home to federal courts, a daycare and the U.S. Marshals Service.

“I am strongly opposed to the plan for ICE to put a detention center in the Kenneth B. Keating Federal Building in downtown Rochester,” said Monroe County Executive Adam Bello in a statement. “This proposal would turn a civic building—in the heart of our community—into a site of detention, fear and division. It is absolutely wrong and will undermine public trust and the safety of our community. I will continue to stand with local leaders and Monroe County residents to reject this proposal and call on the Trump administration to reverse this decision.”

Monroe County Legislature’s Democratic Caucus expressed its opinion as well, calling it a dangerous overreach.

“Our community was not consulted prior to this proposal, and decisions of this extent should never be made behind closed doors. This proposal is a dangerous overreach from the federal government and we must ensure our community members can feel safe when interacting with the judicial system,” reads a recent statement by the Monroe County Legislature’s Democratic Caucus. “We join our partners in government in calling on the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs (CBP) and Border Patrol, and the General Services Administration to immediately stop any plans to implement a detention center in Rochester.”

The Monroe County Republican Committee, however, doesn’t view the reports of an immigration facility downtown as a controversial issue.

“Federal authorities routinely use federal facilities to carry out federal responsibilities, including immigration enforcement. A federal building is a reasonable and appropriate place for federal processing,” the committee’s statement says. “No matter one’s views on immigration policy, there should be agreement that keeping these operations local is not only practical; it is more humane. Processing individuals in Rochester avoids transporting them long distances to remote facilities, keeps them closer to their families, and allows better access to legal counsel. Local processing also supports faster case review and more efficient coordination with the courts.”

Currently, detainees from the area are held at ICE’s Buffalo Service Processing Center in Batavia, one of the largest detention facilities in New York. The Beacon visited the Batavia immigration detention facility multiple times, where Omar Ramos Jimenez, a Rochester resident, remains in detention.

Community members and lawmakers have coalesced in support since these crackdowns. Just last week, Rep. Joe Morelle shared a video clip related to Ramos Jimenez’s detention. The New York Immigration Coalition has issued a series of resources and trainings for all New Yorkers to best equip themselves against the threat of immigration enforcement. Know Your Rights cards serve as reminders when dealing with an ICE agent, while policy guides have been made readily available for those unsure of the path forward should they find themselves caught amid immigration enforcement activities. For several weekends in a row, groups have gathered to protest in the suburbs, including at Twelve Corners in Brighton.

Against this backdrop, questions remain about how legislators will vote if and when the Operation Stonegarden agreement shows up on the docket. With collaboration expected between federal immigration agencies and local law enforcement, MCSO’s operational policies could remain the same.

“Right now, immigration enforcement in the United States looks like this: It looks like families being torn apart, hardworking people who have never committed crimes being thrown in jail. It looks like people being sent to third world countries and foreign torture prisons,” Barnhart says. “It looks like children being separated from their parents. It looks like complete and utter inhumanity. That’s why we cannot collaborate with Trump’s immigration enforcement. We just can’t.”

This story has been updated.

Narm Nathan is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer.Jacob Schermerhorncontributed to this story.

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