Texas Governor Greg Abbott, in conjunction with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Texas National Guard, has continued efforts to amplify their presence along the border. The state's initiative, dubbed Operation Lone Star, has been positioned as a multi-agency push to assert control over illegal activities along the Texas-Mexico border. The operation's latest move involves the opening of a new tactical command post aimed at stymieing the flow of drugs, weapons, and unauthorized immigrants into Texas.
According to a press release from the Governor's office, Operation Lone Star has been a purported success, with more than 518,300 undocumented immigrants apprehended and upwards of 46,000 criminal arrests since its inception. Of these arrests, more than 40,000 felony charges have been made. In light of the ongoing fentanyl crisis in the United States, the initiative has also lead to the seizure of over 521 million lethal doses of fentanyl, an amount purportedly sizable enough to be lethal to the population of both the United States and Mexico combined.
The action does not end at the border, as the Governor's press release details the transportation of thousands of migrants to various U.S. cities. Specifically, over 12,500 migrants have been sent to Washington, D.C.; 45,900 to New York City; 36,900 to Chicago; 3,400 to Philadelphia; 19,200 to Denver; and 1,500 to Los Angeles since the beginning of the program. This strategy reflects Texas' approach to sharing the burden of immigration and border security with so-called "sanctuary cities," which are often in states with contrasting immigration policies.
Officials within the Texas administration have cast Operation Lone Star as a necessary response to the current federal government's handling of border policy. The statement from Governor Abbott's office doesn't mince words: "Every individual who is apprehended or arrested and every ounce of drugs seized would have otherwise made their way into communities across Texas and the nation due to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ open border policies." This expansion comes amidst continued critique of the Biden-Harris administration and its approach to border security issues as perceived by state-level actors, like those steering the helm in Texas.
