AUSTIN Governor Greg Abbott, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), and the Texas National Guard are continuing to work together to secure the border; stop the smuggling of drugs, weapons, and people into Texas; and prevent, detect, and interdict transnational criminal behavior between ports of entry, according to a Friday press release.
DPS and the Texas National Guard mobilized numerous assets in the Brownsville area Thursday as part of a mass migration response exercise. Operation Lone Star partners conducted the exercise ahead of the federal government’s plan to end Title 42 next week.
With the imminent ending of Title 42 on May 11, Texas National Guard engineers are reinforcing razor wire barriers along the Texas-Mexico border near El Paso, while additional soldiers have been mobilized to support construction efforts. The reinforced razor wire barriers will create essential impediments to combat the unprecedented influx of illegal border crossings the end of Title 42 is expected to cause.
“The Texas National Guard is a highly organized and efficient force,” Major Sean Storrud, Task Force West commander, said in the release. “Although illegal immigration is absolutely a national problem that requires a national solution, the Texas National Guard is doing our part.”
According to the press release, since the launch of Operation Lone Star, the multi-agency effort has led to over 371,000 illegal immigrant apprehensions and more than 27,000 criminal arrests, with more than 25,000 felony charges reported. In the fight against fentanyl, Texas law enforcement has seized over 385 million lethal doses of fentanyl during this border mission.
Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps left 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, the release said.
