Texas Governor Greg Abbott has released the latest data from Operation Lone Star, the state's campaign to combat illegal immigration over its southern border, revealing over 507,200 suspected illegal migrants have been arrested since the program launched in 2021.
The data was revealed on Friday in a press release and promoted by Abbott on X, formerly Twitter. The Republican governor wrote: "Texas law enforcement continues to arrest violent criminals and human smugglers. Operation Lone Star is stepping up to protect Texans—and Americans—from President Biden's dangerous open border policies."
Illegal migration from Mexico into Texas has caused a surge in tension between state and federal authorities in recent months. In January, 68,260 migrants were encountered by law enforcement, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, down from 149,806 in December.
The statement also said law enforcement has made 41,500 criminal arrests and seized over 471 million lethal fentanyl doses since the operation was launched. These figures are an increase of 900 and two million respectively on the numbers included in the last update from Abbott's office, which was published on March 15. By this date a total of over 504,900 suspected illegal immigrants had been arrested during the operation, meaning there were an additional 2,300 arrests over the past month.
Abbott has also been transporting irregular migrants from Texas to Democratic-controlled sanctuary cities since 2022. According to the latest data the state has transferred over 42,000 migrants to New York City since August 2022, 34,400 migrants to Chicago since August 2022 and 12,500 migrants to Washington D.C. from April 2022.
The press release concluded: "Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps created by the Biden 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's open border policies."
In January, the Supreme Court ruled that federal agents could remove razor-wire placed along the Texas-Mexico border on Abbott's orders, sparking fury from the governor.
In response, Abbott said the state was facing an "invasion" and invoked its "constitutional authority to defend and protect itself." A joint letter backing the governor's position was signed by 25 other Republican governors, while Donald Trump urged other GOP-controlled states to send National Guard troops to Texas in a show of support.
At the beginning of the year, a group of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate agreed a $118 billion bill that would strengthen security on the southern border, tighten the eligibility for receiving asylum in the U.S. and provide foreign aid to U.S. allies including Ukraine and Israel.
However, the legislation was fiercely opposed by Republican hardliners, including Trump, who argued that it was insufficiently radical. Speaker Mike Johnson said the legislation would be "dead on arrival" in the House.
Speaking earlier this week, an Arizona Border Patrol chief warned the state could face an "unprecedented" number of migrant deaths in the coming months due to the numbers attempting to cross and rising heat.
John Modlin, chief patrol agent of the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, said: "If nothing changes with the level of migration and we get the 118- to 120-degree days down there, we're likely going to see unprecedented amounts of death in the desert. At some point, something has to give."
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James Bickerton is a Newsweek U.S. News reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is covering U.S. politics and world ... Read more
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