The United States-Mexico border crisis persists, amidst ongoing national discussions on immigration policy and border security. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), and the Texas National Guard have launched the collaborative effort, Operation Lone Star, to secure the border, combat smuggling, and intercept transnational criminal activities along the frontier.
Analysing the outcomes of Operation Lone Star reveals over 484,100 illegal immigrant apprehensions, above 36,600 criminal arrests, and more than 33,200 felony charges. The operation has also led to the seizure of over 435 million lethal doses of fentanyl. Additionally, Texas has been relocating migrants to various cities nationwide since 2022 as detailed in a press release.
Notably, Governor Abbott has praised the Texas Legislature's approval of Senate Bill 4, establishing criminal penalties for illegal entry into Texas and authorizing the expulsion of illegal immigrants. This progresses concurrently with the state's construction of its border wall and the introduction of the Mobile Modular Surveillance System (M2S2), reflecting Texas's determination to fortify its stand against illegal immigration and transnational criminal activity.
While Governor Abbott prepares to implement the border security legislation, the stark realities encountered by migrants grappling with the hazardous Rio Grande are brought to light by NewsNation. Their coverage exposes the desperate attempts of hundreds of illegal immigrants using ropes and human chains to cross the river. Texas Border Czar Mike Banks comments, "Twenty-three years in to quickly the Border Patrol, and I have never seen such a chaotic border...I've never seen this much death."
More than 900 children have been saved from human smugglers due to Operation Lone Star. Mexican cartels persist in exploiting the border security vulnerabilities presented by the Biden Administration's liberal border policies. DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez observes, in an interview with Newsmax, the alarming lack of information regarding the fate of the smuggled children who do not get rescued, indicating the possibility of these victims ending up in sex or labor trafficking.
Olivarez stated, "That's the disturbing part, that there really is no answer to what happens to these children...Our own federal government does not have an answer to that. They don't acknowledge that, and that's what's really disturbing as a country."
In an unrelated operation, DPS special agents, working within Operation Lone Star, confiscated weapons, body armor, and ammunition from a human smuggling ring tied to Nuevo Cartel De Juarez and La Linea Cartel operating in West Texas and New Mexico after an intricate investigation.
