I want to walk you through an important story that CalMatters just reported on concerning UC San Diego and a federal grant program that's been flying under the radar for quite a while. Apparently, the university's campus police have been participating in something called Operation Stonegarden, which is funded by the Department of Homeland Security. This program provides money to law enforcement agencies across California to work alongside federal border patrol and customs officials on border security missions. UC San Diego's campus police have been part of this since around 2012, using the grant money to fund overtime hours for officers patrolling coastal areas near the campus.
When CalMatters broke the story in mid-February about this decade-long partnership, students and faculty on campus understandably got upset. They were concerned that this collaboration put undocumented and international students at risk. After students sent complaints and threatened to organize public protests, the campus police chief agreed within a couple of weeks to pull out of the program. While the university's official spokesperson wouldn't confirm this directly, internal emails from the vice chancellor that CalMatters reviewed make it clear the university intends to stop using the grant and has no plans to reapply for it going forward. Even the county sheriff's office confirmed to CalMatters that the university won't participate in future grant-funded operations.
The Operation Stonegarden program is pretty substantial, distributing roughly 11 million dollars annually across California police agencies, and dozens of departments statewide participate. What's raised eyebrows is that the federal government has been asking grant recipients since 2020 to prioritize training officers as immigration agents, which actually violates California's sanctuary law. The university's leadership claimed the grant money was used specifically for drug trafficking and human trafficking operations, not immigration enforcement. However, a 2025 audit from the Inspector General's office found that only about 15 percent of Stonegarden funds go toward drug interdiction, and the Department of Homeland Security itself characterizes drug enforcement as incidental to the main mission.
There's also been concern about what information gets collected and where it goes. According to documents CalMatters obtained from Riverside County, most of the traffic stops made under this program in 2023 and 2024 resulted in information being gathered and reported to the Department of Homeland Security, even when no drugs were found or crimes committed. The university indicated that while campus police can view these reports, they can't access them once they're sent to federal authorities, and they didn't clearly say whether they could release that information if asked under public records laws.
What I'm seeing locally in the East Bay and broader Bay Area is that communities are becoming increasingly vigilant about how public institutions spend money and who they partner with. This case at UC San Diego shows that when students and faculty push back on policies that feel at odds with community values, universities do listen and can change course. For buyers, sellers, and residents in the Bay Area, these conversations matter because they shape the kind of communities we're building and whether public institutions are trusted by everyone they serve.
