Texas Border Business
AUSTIN – Governor Greg Abbott, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), and the Texas National Guard continue to work together to secure the border; stop the smuggling of drugs, weapons, and people into Texas; and prevent, detect, and interdict transnational criminal activity between ports of entry.
Since the launch of Operation Lone Star, the multi-agency effort has led to over 517,000 illegal immigrant apprehensions and more than 45,700 criminal arrests, with more than 39,600 felony charges. In the fight against the fentanyl crisis, Texas law enforcement has seized over 506 million lethal doses of fentanyl, enough to kill every man, woman, and child in the United States and Mexico combined during this border mission.
Texas has also transported:
- Over 12,500 migrants to Washington, D.C. since April 2022.
- Over 45,900 migrants to New York City since August 2022.
- Over 36,900 migrants to Chicago since August 2022.
- Over 3,400 migrants to Philadelphia since November 2022.
- Over 19,200 migrants to Denver since May 2023.
- Over 1,500 migrants to Los Angeles since June 2023.
Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps created by the Biden-Harris Administration’s refusal to secure the border. 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.
RECENT HIGHLIGHTS FROM OPERATION LONE STAR:
Governor Abbott issued a statement on Wednesday detailing Vice President Harris’ continued refusal to address the border crisis. The Governor also highlighted a letter he sent the Vice President soon after she was appointed Border Czar more than three years ago by President Biden, urging her to visit the border to see the crisis for herself and take swift action to secure the border.
“More than three years ago, I sent a letter to Vice President Harris,” said Governor Abbott. “I implored the Vice President, in her capacity as President Biden’s point-person on illegal immigration, i.e. Border Czar, to take swift action to address nine urgent concerns, including cracking down on human trafficking and preventing more children from being trafficked and abused as a result of the border crisis. Vice President Harris has never bothered to respond to my letter or even trouble herself to see the border crisis that she helped create. As Vice President Harris visits Texas again this week, I once again implore her to take action to stem the tide of Americans being assaulted and killed by illegal immigrants.”
Read the Governor’s full statement here.
Governor Abbott issued a statement earlier this week following the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit allowing Texas to maintain its floating marine barriers in the Rio Grande River.
“The Fifth Circuit last night delivered a victory for Texas’ historic border security mission by ruling that our floating marine barriers can stay in the Rio Grande River. Last year, Texas installed these barriers to deny dangerous and illegal river crossings, and almost immediately, the Biden-Harris Administration sued to remove them and obstruct our efforts to secure our border. We fought to keep these barriers in the water, and with the Fifth Circuit’s decision, that is exactly where they will remain.”
On Monday, Governor Abbott joined Harris Faulkner on Fox News to discuss President Biden and Vice President Harris’ failure to fulfill their constitutional duties to protect the nation by refusing to secure the border. The Governor pointed to the record number of known terrorists that have been apprehended illegally crossing the border due to the Biden-Harris Administration’s open border policies.
“The President and Vice President have a primary, scared duty to protect the United States of America from terrorists,” said Governor Abbott. “The new number of the known terrorists who have been apprehended coming across the border is 383 under the Biden-Harris Administration. Those are the ones apprehended. If you are on the terrorist watch list, you pay more to the cartels to not be apprehended. We don’t know how many hundreds or thousands of terrorists are in our country because the Biden-Harris Administration did not secure the border.”
Earlier this week on X, formerly known as Twitter, Governor Abbott celebrated the New York Supreme Court’s decision ruling against New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ attempt to block Texas from busing migrants to his self-declared sanctuary city.
Until the Biden-Harris Administration does their job to secure the southern border, Texas will continue to transport migrants to sanctuary cities to provide relief to our overrun and overwhelmed border communities.
On Tuesday, Lt. Chris Olivarez joined Neil Cavuto on Fox News where he called out the federal government for refusing to secure the border. During the interview, Lt. Olivarez pointed out that despite a downturn in illegal border crossings, the Biden-Harris Administration is still responsible for the last three years of an unprecedented illegal immigration crisis where over 11 million illegal immigrants have entered the country.
“I think it’s very disingenuous for the federal government to try to claim or take a victory lap because illegal border crossings between ports of entry are down,” said Lt. Olivarez. “Where were they in the last three and a half years, where we’ve seen the most catastrophic, unmitigated disaster at our border. [The federal government] cannot take a victory lap now and claim that [they] have taken action to secure the border when they could have done that from day one.”
This week, DPS Aircraft Operations Division pilots noticed suspicious activity with a plane around Kingsville.
DPS pilots intercepted the plane upon landing near Port Isabel and discovered eight illegal immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico were being transported in the aircraft. All eight illegal immigrants were referred to Border Patrol.
A smuggler in a white GMC Acadia led DPS troopers on a high-speed pursuit on I-35 in Webb County this week. The smuggler, a 14-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico, ran a red light and hit a curb, causing him to lose a front tire.
A DPS trooper successfully performed a precision immobilization technique maneuver, causing the smuggler to drive off the road and into the brush. After stopping in the brush, the vehicle caught fire and troopers evacuated seven illegal immigrants, from Mexico, out of the car.
The smuggler was arrested and charged with evading arrest and smuggling of persons. Seven illegal immigrants were referred to Border Patrol.
Texas National Guard soldiers working on Operation Lone Star assisted law enforcement in the seizure of over 256 pounds of narcotics last week along the Texas-Mexico border.
Among the items that were seized were nine large bundles of narcotics and more than 140 smaller packages of marijuana, a transport vehicle, and seven suspected smugglers.
Texas National Guard soldiers assisted law enforcement with night vision technology and advanced optical equipment to track a group of suspected illegal immigrants.
After a three-day manhunt across tough terrain in a large rural area, soldiers and law enforcement officers successfully tracked and captured the suspects hiding under a bridge.
