Texas quietly pulled the plug on a jail booking facility that had been helping power Operation Lone Star in Del Rio last summer, state officials confirmed this week. The Val Verde Temporary Processing Facility, opened to handle a surge of border arrests, was formally closed in August 2025 after internal logs showed it had not processed anyone since May 2025.
The San Antonio Current reported that Department of Public Safety spokesperson Sheridan Nolen acknowledged the shutdown and said the Val Verde Temporary Processing Facility "was used to support local jails overwhelmed by the record number of arrests along the border." Internal booking records reviewed by reporters indicated no one had been booked there after May 2025, and Nolen said officials began routing people back into local jails in August 2025.
How The Del Rio Site Fit Into Operation Lone Star
Gov. Greg Abbott set up two emergency booking centers as part of Operation Lone Star to back up a surge of DPS troopers and Texas State Guard members along the Texas - Mexico border. In a March 17, 2025, press release, the governor’s office highlighted the Jim Hogg County site and outlined a phased shutdown there as crossings declined, stressing that the booking hubs were meant to be temporary pressure valves rather than permanent lockups.
Numbers And Budget
Lawmakers signed off on roughly $3.4 billion for border security in the current two-year state budget, with most of that going to the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Military Department, according to The Texas Tribune. Intake figures cited in reporting show the Val Verde facility averaged about 276 bookings a month last year before the tally fell off sharply heading into mid-2025.
Why This Came To Light Now
The shutdown did not get a splashy announcement. It surfaced only after reporters started asking about internal booking logs, the San Antonio Current reported. Those records suggested the Val Verde site saw no new bookings after May 2025. At the same time, Nolen told reporters that DPS officers were averaging nearly 100 arrests per week along the Texas - Mexico line, a pace officials point to when defending ongoing enforcement deployments even as crossings dropped.
Legal And Local Impact
At the Del Rio facility, state officers booked asylum-seeking people on state charges such as criminal trespass and human smuggling. That strategy has raised recurring questions about where federal authority ends and state authority begins, and it has added strain to already stressed county jails. The Texas Indigent Defense Commission has overseen emergency indigent-defense measures tied to Operation Lone Star and has flagged both financial and logistical burdens on small counties, according to the Texas Indigent Defense Commission.
The quiet closure of the Val Verde center is another sign of how Texas is adjusting and funding its border operations while federal agencies take on more of the processing load, The Texas Tribune reports. State officials have not offered details beyond Nolen’s statement. This story will be updated if agencies release additional information.
