Macomb, St. Clair receive federal funds to help nab illegal aliens

The Department of Homeland Security has awarded $509,000 in federal grants to Macomb, Sanilac, and St. Clair counties to beef up security on the U.S.-Canadian border along Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River.
According to Congresswoman Candice Miller, the money flows from a $55 million DHS effort known as Operation Stonegarden, which seeks to enhance coordination between federal agencies and local law enforcement to secure ingress routes along the border with Mexico and Canada, including international waters. Most of that enforcement work is carried out by county sheriffs' marine divisions.
In addition, St. Clair County received funding to enhance security at the St. Clair River port in Port Huron. 

“These grants are designed to improve interagency coordination and create a force-multiplier for our agencies tasked with the increasingly difficult challenge of keeping our borders safe,” said Miller, a Harrison Township Republican, in a statement.

“I am especially pleased with (Tuesday’s) announcement granting these particular northern border counties with new funds since southern jurisdictions have been the primary recipients over the past several years.  Throughout my entire tenure, I have strongly advocated for more resources along the northern border, which gets more hits on the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) list than the southern border.”  

St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon, expressing appreciation for the federal assistance, said that St. Clair County’s 110 miles of border waters represent the longest international border of any county in Michigan.