Backing the boots on the ground, over 100 Texas sheriffs have thrown their weight behind Operation Lone Star, Governor Greg Abbott's initiative against what he describes as a dereliction of duty by the Biden Administration to secure the border. In a statement that reverberates with the force of law and order, these sheriffs support the collaborative efforts of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Texas National Guard to stem the tide of unlawful crossings and contraband into Texas.
Since its inception, the operation has notched up over 505,800 apprehensions of illegal immigrants and handed down the gavel of the law with more than 41,000 criminal arrests; which has led to charges that amount to over 36,500 felonies. But even while Operation Lone Star heralds its successes in combatting what they term as the fentanyl crisis, operatives have seized upwards of 470 million doses of the potentially lethal substance, a haul boasted to have kept communities within and beyond Texas boundaries safer from the drug's lethal grip.
The multi-agency operation has reached beyond the Texan terra firma, moving thousands of migrants to cities across the nation, linking their fate to urban centers like Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver, and Los Angeles in numbers that signify a systematic redistribution; over 12,500 migrants were sent to the nation's capital since April 2022, stats that continue to soar with over 40,300 to New York City, over 33,000 to Chicago, over 3,400 to Philadelphia, over 17,100 to Denver, and over 1,500 to Los Angeles all since their respective start dates.
This surge in support from Texas sheriffs serves to underscore the contention that the Biden Administration's policies, branded 'open border' in nature, are being rebuffed by state initiatives that align with Abbott's decisive rhetoric, asserting every migrant apprehended, and every gram of drugs seized would have otherwise infiltrated the heart of Texas communities, and assertedly, cities across the nation. As the operation trucks on, its architects and supporters aim their mission squarely at voids they claim are left yawning wide by federal oversight, a mission underpinned now more than ever by local law enforcement's endorsement.
