Operation Lone Star Archives - The Minnesota Sun

Texas Sees 51 Percent Drop in Border Apprehensions After Operation Lone Star Expands

November 2, 2024 The Center Square

Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal border crossers in Texas dropped 51% in one year, according to federal data. The stark decline comes after Gov. Greg Abbott expanded Operation Lone Star border security efforts in the state.

In fiscal 2023, Border Patrol agents reported 1,045,655 apprehensions of illegal border crossers in five U.S. Customs and Border Protection sectors in Texas, excluding those apprehended in New Mexico which fall into one of these sectors, in fiscal 2023. In fiscal 2024, the number dropped to 534,333, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data and exclusive data obtained by The Center Square.

More than 100 Sheriffs Express Support for Operation Lone Star

March 27, 2024 The Center Square

More than 100 sheriffs in Texas expressed support for Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security effort, Operation Lone Star. They also are calling for the border crisis to be declared a “United States constitutional crisis and crimes against humanity.”

In a letter to the governor, the sheriffs “respectfully request that our Texas border be immediately secured by any lawful means.”

House Republicans Demand Answers Over 320,000 Illegal Immigrants Flown Into the U.S.

March 11, 2024 Just the News

House Republicans are demanding answers from the Biden administration after newly surfaced documents show that about 320,000 illegal immigrants from Latin America were flown into cities across the United States amid already record-high numbers of migrant encounters at the southern Border.

Texas Sheriffs to Trucker Convoy Heading to Border: ‘Don’t Come to Texas’

January 29, 2024 The Center Square

Texas sheriffs and some residents have a message for a trucker convoy scheduled to come to the Texas border on Feb. 3: “Don’t come.” Organizer of the “Take Our Border Back Southern Border Convoy & 3-state Rally” are calling on “all active and retired law enforcement and military, veterans, mama bears, elected officials, business owners, ranchers, truckers, bikers, media and law abiding, freedom-loving Americans” to travel to rural, hard-to -reach areas near Eagle Pass, Texas, Yuma, Arizona, and San Ysirdo, California.

Abbott Asserts Texas’ Right to Self-Defense amid Border Surge

January 24, 2024January 24, 2024 Just the News

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday reiterated the right of the state of Texas to defend itself amid an unprecedented surge in illegal border crossings, insisting that the Biden administration had failed in its duties and forced Austin’s hand.

SCOTUS Sides with Open Borders Biden Admin, Clears the Way for Feds to Remove Razor Wire Barrier in Eagle Pass, Texas

January 22, 2024 The Center Square

A divided U.S. Supreme Court sided with President Joe Biden’s administration on Monday, clearing the way for federal authorities to remove razor wire installed in Eagle Pass along the U.S.-Mexico border by Texas law enforcement.

Officials Suspend Railroad Crossings at Two Key International Ports of Entry in Texas

December 18, 2023 Minnesota Sun Staff

On Sunday night, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced it was closing international railroad bridges at two major ports of entry in Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, after a surge of over 4,000 people illegally entered over the last 48 hours.

CBP reported that agents apprehended nearly 3,000 illegal foreign nationals on Saturday and Sunday in the Eagle Pass area alone. Groups of 400 came through at a time, undeterred by border barriers erected by Gov. Greg Abbott through Operation Lone Star. Without OLS, little to no law enforcement presence would exist in the region, officials have explained, because Border Patrol agents have been tasked with processing people to release them into the country.

Texas DPS Marks over 900 Smuggled Children Rescued from Southern Border

August 8, 2023 The Center Square

Through Texas’ border security mission Operation Lone Star, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers have rescued more than 900 children being smuggled into and through Texas from Mexico by human traffickers, DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez announced.

Among them was a recent rescue in Maverick County in Eagle Pass, Texas, where troopers found a five-year-old Honduran girl who’d been smuggled into Texas by three adult women who weren’t related to her. The women found the girl in Piedras Negras, Mexico, and then brought her with them as they crossed illegally into Texas between ports of entry.

Texas’ Operation Lone Star: More Than 500 Buses Sent to Sanctuary Cities

June 26, 2023 The Center Square

Since Texas’ border security mission Operation Lone Star (OLS) launched more than two years ago, the multi-agency effort has led to the apprehension of nearly 400,000 foreign nationals who entered the U.S. illegally.

Since last April, Texas has sent over 500 buses of foreign nationals to six so-called sanctuary cities.

Texas Sends First Bus of Illegal Border Crossers to Los Angeles

June 15, 2023 The Center Square

A bus of foreign nationals who illegally entered Texas and were apprehended and released by the Biden administration were taken to Los Angeles for the first time, Gov. Greg Abbott said. They were dropped off at the Los Angeles Union Station Wednesday evening.

“Texas’ small border towns remain overwhelmed and overrun by the thousands of people illegally crossing into Texas from Mexico because of President Biden’s refusal to secure the border,” Abbott said. “Los Angeles is a major city that migrants seek to go to, particularly now that its city leaders approved its self-declared sanctuary city status. Our border communities are on the frontlines of President Biden’s border crisis, and Texas will continue providing this much-needed relief until he steps up to do his job and secure the border.”

Texas Sheriff: We’re Experiencing ‘Silent Invasion’ of Military Age Men

February 28, 2023 The Center Square

What’s happening at the southern U.S. border with Mexico is in fact an invasion, Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe says.

“We’re experiencing a silent invasion of military age men,” Coe told The Center Square when describing what his deputies have been increasingly facing over the past two years.

Abbott Expanding Operation Lone Star in Effort to Secure Southern Border

November 18, 2022November 17, 2022 The Center Square

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is expanding Operation Lone Star in an effort to further secure the state’s southern border with Mexico.

Abbott, who has been critical of President Joe Biden’s open border policies, sent a letter to Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw and Texas Military Department Adjutant General Thomas Suelzer in which he said, “Until Congress acts or the Biden Administration does its constitutionally required job, Texas Guardsmen and Troopers must bear the burden of securing the border.”

Attorney General Paxton: Reports Suggesting Texas’ Operation Lone Star Is Unconstitutional Is ‘Fake News’

February 7, 2022February 6, 2022 The Center Square

Multiple news reports suggesting that a Travis County judge ruled that Texas’ Operation Lone Star is unconstitutional is “fake news,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Office says.

To suggest the state’s border security measures are unconstitutional “is absolutely ludicrous and wrong,” Paxton told The Center Square.

Nine Months into Operation Lone Star, Texas DPS Reports Record Interdiction Numbers

January 21, 2022January 20, 2022 The Center Square

Since March 2021, when Gov. Greg Abbott launched Operation Lone Star (OLS), Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) state troopers have been working around the clock to help defend the southern border. Nine months later, its chief reports a record for state interdiction efforts.

Since OLS began, state troopers have arrested more than 10,000 illegal immigrants, including smugglers and drug traffickers, Texas DPS Director Steve McCraw said Wednesday at a Texas Public Policy Foundation event in Austin. They’ve seized over 5 tons of methamphetamine, over $17 million in cash, and enough fentanyl to kill over 260 million people.

Operation Lone Star Border Security Efforts Get Additional $38.4 Million In Funding

December 26, 2021December 25, 2021 The Center Square

An additional $38.4 million of Texas taxpayer money has been allocated to fund border security efforts at the Texas-Mexico border. It’s money Texas shouldn’t have to spend, Gov. Greg Abbott said, but is because of President Joe Biden’s open border policies that have ushered into the state rampant trafficking of drugs, people and crime.

The money will provide additional funding for Operation Lone Star, which Abbott launched in March and go towards law enforcement, jail operations, and court administration costs. It brings the total PSO funding for Operation Lone Star to $74 million to date designed to assist border cities and counties.

Texas National Guard Says It Apprehended over 2,600 Illegal Migrants at the Border in One Week

December 10, 2021December 9, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

Texas National Guard troops deployed to the southern border have apprehended over 2,600 illegal migrants since last Wednesday, according to figures provided to Daily Caller News Foundation.

The troops are stationed at the border as part of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s “Operation Lone Star,” which has mobilized state assets to counter illegal activity.

A Firsthand Look into Texas’ ‘Operation Lone Star’

December 2, 2021 Admin

RIO GRANDE VALLEY — The alarm clock sounded at 3 a.m. local time. It was dark and the skies were clear from the storm that had just passed. Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Lt. Craig Cummings, who was driving me around the valley, joked that we may face a more dangerous situation than the border had in store for us because of the tornado-like winds and torrential downpour that had swept through the area just hours before.

We decided the early morning would be the best time to capture suspected human smuggling attempts. Texas troopers with DPS supporting Operation Lone Star, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s initiative to combat nefarious activity from entering his state, dotted the roads making their presence known.

Texas’ Effort to Secure the U.S.-Mexico Border Underway

November 23, 2021November 22, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

RIO GRANDE VALLEY — A top official within Texas’ effort to secure the U.S.-Mexico border told the Daily Caller News Foundation that his troops are prepared for a worst case scenario situation and that they can be deployed within hours to tackle it.

“We’re prepared to repel and block any sized element coming across,” The Texas National Guard border public affairs officer Major Mike Perry told the DCNF. “That’s what the rehearsals are for. Typically, they’re focused on one area cause it’s your low crossings and your ports. So, we can be anywhere with our ground assets in three hours to get the Steel Curtain up and prepare for it, and, of course, you saw the Contingency Reaction Force fly in with the military police.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Texas National Guard are prepared to “surge” resources to any location in Texas to “repel and block” large caravans or other illegal activity crossing the border, Perry explained.

Texas Officials Have Arrested over 8,500 Illegal Migrants Since Gov. Abbott Launched Operation Lone Star

November 7, 2021November 6, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

Texas law enforcement officials have made more than 8,520 criminal arrests of illegal migrants since Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in March, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Wednesday.

Around 1,600 of the arrests were for criminal trespassing and about 6,800 felony charges were filed against illegal migrants from the time Abbott’s directive was issued through Oct. 28, Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Press Secretary Ericka Miller told the DCNF.