UC San Diego has terminated its participation in a federal grant program that funded campus police assistance for the U.S. Border Patrol. The decision comes after student activism and a report by CalMatters exposed the long-standing partnership.
The $11 million Operation Stonegarden funding stream
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) manages a program known as Operation Stonegarden, which provides an average of $11 million annually to law enforcement agencies across California. As CalMatters reported, these funds are designed to facilitate collaboration between local police and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, specifically its Border Patrol subagency, to enhance border security missions .
UC San Diego utilized these federal funds to cover overtime costs for campus police officers who assisted in border patrols and supported general health and safety initiatives. While the grant is available to dozens of agencies throughout the state, the university's specific use of the money created a friction point between campus security operations and the student body's expectations of safety and inclusivity.
How Aryan Dixit and student protests pressured Chief Lamine Secka
The university's exit from the program was precipitated by a targeted campaign of student resistance. Student Aryan Dixit reported that after a series of complaints and the threat of a public rally, campus police chief Lamine Secka agreed to withdraw the university from the grant program during a one-on-one meetnig on February 26 .
This shift in policy was later validated through internal university communications. According to CalMatters , internal emails sent in March from a university vice chancellor to a retired employee and Chicano education adovcate confirmed that UC San Diego would no longer use the grant. This confirmation was further supported in May by Lt. Michael Gonzales of the San Diego County Sheriff's Office , who noted that the university would not participate in future Stonegarden operations.
A decade of DHS collaboration since 2012
The partnership between UC San Diego and the Department of Homeland Security was not a recent development, having been in place since approximately 2012. For over ten years, the university operated as a conduit for federal border security goals, reflecting a broader trend where local and campus law enforcement agencies integrate with federal immigration and border apparatuses to secure funding and resources.
For many students, however, this decade of cooperation represented a betrayal of the university's role as a safe haven. The belief that the program was used for active immigration enforcement—rather than just general "border security"—created a climate of fear for international students and those without legal residency, who felt their presence on campus was compromised by the university's ties to the Border Patrol.
The transparency gap in UC San Diego's administration
Despite the longevity of the arrangement, a significant question remains regarding who within the UC San Diego hierarchy authorized and maintained the partnership. Students expressed shock that such a high-stakes relationship with the Department of Homeland Security existed without their knowledge, suggesting a lack of transparency in how campus police budgets were managed and sourced.
It remains unclear whether the university's higher administration was fully aware of the specific operational impacts of Operation Stonegarden or if the partnership was managed primarily at the police department level.. Furthermore, the source reporting focuses heavily on the student-led victory, leaving it unverified whether the university would have eventually phased out the grant without the external pressure from CalMatters and student activists.
Comments 0