Texas Governor Greg Abbott is promoting what he calls a “border security blueprint” for the United States, emphasizing his state’s strategies to address immigration and border control.
In a statement released on Friday, Abbott boasted the success of the controversial Operation Lone Star, which he launched in 2021 to stop migrants from entering the United States unlawfully.
“Since the launch of Operation Lone Star, the multi-agency effort has led to over 527,600 illegal immigrant apprehensions and more than 49,000 criminal arrests, with more than 42,200 felony charges. In the fight against the fentanyl crisis, Texas law enforcement has seized over 573 million lethal doses of fentanyl—enough to kill every man, woman, and child in the United States and Mexico combined during this border mission,” the governor’s office said in the statement.
Abbott also claimed that Operation Lone Star has seen illegal crossings into Texas decrease by 87 percent. “Fewer illegal crossings into Texas means fewer migrants to transport to sanctuary cities,” the statement continued. Sanctuary cities in the U.S. are municipalities that have adopted policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, particularly U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They include, among others, Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles.
According to Abbott, since 2022, over 12,500 migrants have been transported from Texas to Washington, D.C., while 45,900 have been transported to New York City, 36,900 to Chicago, and more than 3,400 to Philadelphia. Since 2023, 19,200 migrants have been transported from Texas to Denver and over 1,500 have been transported to Los Angeles.
“Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps created by the federal government’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 open border policies,” Abbott said.
Eric Gay/AP
During the 2023 fiscal year, Texas on average accounted for roughly 59 percent of migrant encounters along the southwest border. During the first half of the 2024 fiscal year, Texas had on average accounted for 43 percent of migrant encounters, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Since 2021, Abbott has been embroiled in a legal battle with President Joe Biden over Operation Lone Star which has seen thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers and law enforcement personnel sent to the border, along with the construction of physical obstacles such as razor wire fences. Floating buoys, separated by saw-like sheets of metal, have been placed in the Rio Grande in a bid to discourage river crossings.
The Justice Department has argued the barrier impedes the U.S. government’s ability to patrol the border, including coming to the aid of migrants in need of help, while immigration advocates and human rights groups have condemned Texas for placing down razor wire to prevent people from seeking asylum, describing the measure as “draconian.” But Abbott has expressed concern at what he views as inadequate federal action to address the increase in migrant crossings.
In June 2023, the Biden administration filed a lawsuit against Texas, claiming that the state had not obtained a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct the buoy barrier. In July, a federal appeals court ruled that floating barriers in the Rio Grande could remain.
The razor-wire fence has also been subject to legal challenges. In an emergency appeal in January, the Supreme Court ruled that border patrol agents can remove razor wire that was installed along the border. This sparked a furious response from the governor who invoked his state’s “constitutional authority to defend and protect itself.”
However, last month, Abbott scored a major win when the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled the federal government does not have the authority to remove razor wire placed along the Texas-Mexico border on the orders of Abbott.
The ruling said the wire could remain provided federal agents have “necessary access” to both sides of it. This includes wire placed in Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, which the Texas Military Department took over in January 2024 to guard against illegal immigration.
The wire is designed to make it significantly more difficult for individuals to scale the border and cross into the U.S. The barriers feature smooth surfaces, sharp angles, and added height, effectively discouraging climbing attempts, with some migrants being injured by the sharp wire.
With Trump set to take office in January, time is running out for the Democrats to stop razor wire from being erected along Texas’ border with Mexico.
Trump made immigration a major issue in his campaign, with the president-elect promising to mount the largest domestic deportation in U.S. history. He made similar promises when he ran for the presidency in 2016, but during his administration, deportations never topped 350,000. For comparison, then-President Barack Obama carried out 432,000 deportations in 2013, the highest annual total since records began.
Trump has also said he will use the National Guard to round up migrants and invoke the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law that allows the president to deport any noncitizen from a country the U.S. is at war with.
Meanwhile, he has appointed Tom Homan, who served as the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the previous Trump administration, to serve as border czar, charging him with curbing illegal immigration.
Homan praised Abbott for having “done a great job so far” during a recent visit to the border.
He added: “I guarantee you the Trump administration isn’t going to constantly sue him for trying to secure the border. We’re going to partner up and help him do 100 percent security.”
Homan has warned migrants in the U.S. illegally to “self-deport” ahead of the next Trump administration. “Criminals and gang members get no grace period,” Homan told Fox News this month. “While we’re out prioritizing the public safety threats and national security threats, if you wanna self-deport, you should self-deport because, again, we know who you are, and we’re gonna come and find you.”
In an interview with CBS News in October, Homan said that under Trump’s mass deportation plan, “families could be deported together.” He also said the administration’s deportation effort would be targeted.
“It’s not going to be a mass sweep of neighborhoods. It’s not going to be building concentration camps. I’ve read it all. It’s ridiculous,” Homan told CBS.
During the first Trump administration, he oversaw a record number of children in U.S. custody. Homan also contributed to Project 2025, the conservative agenda that Trump distanced himself from during the campaign.
Since then, Abbott has continued to plow ahead with Operation Lone Star. “Texas National Guard soldiers conducted deterrence training exercises along the Rio Grande River in El Paso this week. Texas is prepared to stop potential mass illegal immigration attempts at the southern border,” he said in a post on X on Friday.
“Border wall construction continues in Zapata County. The historic Texas border wall is an essential component of our mission to secure the border and protect the nation. Texas will use every tool and strategy to stop illegal immigration,” he said in another post on Thursday.
