Federal immigration authorities say they arrested 4,170 people across Texas during a 10-day operation called Lone Star Mission, a sweep that wrapped up this month even as two disputed Houston encounters involving ICE agents remain under investigation and unresolved. The timing lands just as Texas heads into a competitive Election Day, with immigration enforcement front and center in the state's political messaging.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin highlighted the arrest figures during a Texas press conference, saying more than 60% of those taken into custody had a criminal background, according to local12.com. Mullin also said ICE arrested 136,481 people nationwide during the last fiscal year, framing immigration enforcement as a central piece of the Trump administration's agenda. DHS did not release a full list of suspects, per the same report. Mullin also discussed immigration enforcement.
Lone Star Mission ran for 10 days across Texas starting in mid-October. The state's Operation Lone Star, a border-security initiative, began in 2021. State personnel have been involved in border-security efforts under Operation Lone Star. Abbott has cited stopping illegal crossings and catching criminals as goals of the program. Federal immigration officers carried out the latest sweep.
Houston Incidents Remain Disputed
Two Houston-area encounters involving ICE agents have drawn scrutiny from local officials even as the federal operation presses forward. An ICE agent struck Miguel Parra Hernandez with an unmarked vehicle in Houston earlier this month, and Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said it was “pretty obvious” from videos his office collected, including drone footage, that the agent intentionally hit and ran over Parra, according to NBC News. ICE and DHS called that allegation reckless and false, saying instead that Parra ran into the vehicle's path. The officer involved was placed on administrative leave while the incident was investigated, and DHS separately said the officer had been suspended under standard practice.
Parra suffered multiple fractures in his right leg, a fractured ankle and a hip-area injury, requiring several surgeries, the station's report notes. The Harris County District Attorney's Office launched a criminal investigation into the crash and was weighing an aggravated-assault charge involving a deadly weapon, according to Click2Houston. ICE was targeting Jose Mendoza-Cervantes during the operation.
Complicating the investigation, ICE moved a material witness in the Parra case more than 300 miles south to the Port Isabel detention center before Harris County investigators could interview him; Teare said the witness was flown to Mexico by 1 a.m. the next morning, as reported by Houston Public Media.
A Fatal Shooting And A Second Wounding
The Parra incident follows a fatal ICE shooting in July, when an agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston's Magnolia Park while he was driving a work crew to a construction site. ICE said he was not the target of the operation. DHS said Salgado Araujo tried to evade arrest, rammed an ICE vehicle and attempted to run over an agent, while his family disputed that account, telling ABC13 he would have complied had he known the men in unmarked vehicles were ICE officers. Grand jury proceedings in that case were underway as of September, ABC13 reported.
A similar dispute has played out in Austin, where ICE officers shot and wounded Wilber Garces Perez, an undocumented Venezuelan DoorDash driver, in September. Federal prosecutors alleged Garces Perez hit an ICE agent with a car before he was shot. No video of the encounter has been released. Across these incidents, federal authorities have said officers acted in response to threats or because the men were attempting to evade arrest, while witnesses, attorneys or local officials have disputed those accounts.
Billions In Spending And Reimbursement
The enforcement push comes with a steep price tag. Texas has spent more than $11 billion in state funds on Operation Lone Star, and the federal government recently approved a $7.5 billion reimbursement to the state for border-security costs, according to the Texas Tribune. The fund used to reimburse Texas was created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in 2025. Texas's reimbursement application covered activities dating back to 2021 and, in some cases, continuing into 2026, including more than 530,000 apprehensions of undocumented immigrants, nearly 54,000 criminal arrests and the transportation of nearly 120,000 migrants to other states. Abbott separately called the reimbursement a victory.
Enforcement Meets Election-Year Politics
The arrest tally is landing in the middle of an unusually competitive Texas election season. President Trump held rallies in Corpus Christi and Lubbock this week, and Vice President JD Vance appeared at a Republican rally in Weatherford on Thursday. Immigration enforcement has remained front and center in the state's political messaging.
