El Paso County
Far West Texas county on the Mexican border; its seat is El Paso.
El Paso County's counterterrorism grants carry no federal election strings after 28 September 2026, when a judge struck down FEMA conditions that County Attorney Christina Sanchez had called "reckless".
Last refreshed: 1 October 2026
Timeline for El Paso County
Mentioned in: Judge Ali voids FEMA election conditions
US Midterms 2026Background
El Paso County is the FAR West Texas county on the border with Mexico; its seat is the City of El Paso. It had about 876,000 residents in July 2024 by Census Bureau estimate. It is distinct from El Paso County, Colorado.
In August 2026 the county joined five other local governments in suing the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA. FEMA had told states they would lose 20% of their Homeland Security Grant Program money unless they adopted SAVE citizenship checks, a 5% manual ballot audit and a move away from voting machines. The county's fellow plaintiffs were Harris, Travis and Dallas counties, Nashville's metropolitan government and Columbus, Ohio.
Judge Amir Ali vacated the conditions on 28 September. Christina Sanchez, the County Attorney, said "conditioning our counterterrorism funding on an unproven citizenship-verification system was reckless".