Federal Policy

UC San Diego Ends DHS Operation Stonegarden Partnership After Student Protests

The university's withdrawal removes a federal funding channel that linked campus police to Customs and Border Protection operations along the California border, a decision that will test how DHS...

The Congressional Times · July 31, 2026

The University of California, San Diego has ended its participation in the Department of Homeland Security's Operation Stonegarden grant program, which funds collaboration between local law enforcement agencies and U.S. Customs and Border Protection on border security operations, according to reporting confirmed by the university. The decision followed student protests objecting to the partnership between UCSD campus police and federal Border Patrol agents.

Operation Stonegarden is a DHS grant program administered through FEMA's Homeland Security Grant Program. It provides funding to law enforcement agencies in border states — including California — to support joint operations with CBP. Participation is voluntary; agencies apply for grants and enter cooperative agreements with the federal government. The program's annual appropriations are set by Congress and publicly reported through USASpending.gov, where individual agency grant awards are listed by fiscal year.

UCSD's withdrawal means campus police will no longer receive Stonegarden grant funds or conduct joint patrols or operations with Border Patrol under that agreement. The university has not publicly detailed whether any alternative federal law enforcement coordination arrangements remain in place. The specific dollar value of UCSD's most recent Stonegarden award, and the contract or grant number associated with it, were not independently confirmed in available public records at the time of publication; those figures would appear in FEMA's Stonegarden award database and USASpending.gov under the university's Employer Identification Number.

Student opposition centered on concerns that campus cooperation with Border Patrol could expose undocumented students or community members to immigration enforcement action. UCSD has not issued a detailed public statement outlining its legal analysis of the decision or any conditions under which it might rejoin the program. DHS has not publicly commented on the withdrawal as of July 31, 2026.

What remains unknown is whether DHS will seek to recover any previously disbursed Stonegarden grant funds under clawback provisions, and whether other University of California campuses currently participate in the program. FEMA's annual Stonegarden awards list, published on the FEMA website and mirrored on USASpending.gov, would identify all California law enforcement recipients, including any UC system participants, for fiscal years 2024 and 2025.

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