We strain to even call Operation Lone Star policy. Steeped in theatrics and mired in incompetence, the mission is a disaster. Instead of acknowledging this failure, Gov. Greg Abbott has doubled down, at tremendous cost to Texans.
Abbott recently transferred $495 million from various state agencies to fund the rising cost of deploying thousands of National Guard troops to the Texas-Mexico border. Additionally, the state quietly shifted $1 billion in COVID relief aid to keep Operation Lone Star running. The two-year cost for border security from the state has ballooned to about $4 billion, with no apparent end in sight.
This cost alone is enormous and should trouble taxpayers, who also should wonder just what has been accomplished.
We also see a resource shift away from other priorities. COVID relief aid could have been used to support small businesses and out-of-work Texans, and to distribute therapeutics and vaccines. Just imagine how billions of dollars might have supported public education, property tax relief or infrastructure.
Officials claim the most recent transfer will not impact the agencies tapped for the funds: the Health and Human Services Commission, Texas Department of Criminal Justice and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. As Abbott and other state leaders wrote in a letter to the heads of these agencies, about half of the funds were budgeted last fiscal year and “would otherwise lapse and be unavailable.” The other half comes from this year’s budget and has “been fully funded with other sources.”
But the letter doesn’t provide details about these transfers — and, anyway, the logic fails. The money came from somewhere and could have been used elsewhere.
Abbott has created a quagmire.
Launched last spring, Operation Lone Star overwhelmed county criminal justice systems, with hundreds of immigrants released after sitting in jail for weeks without formal charges or appointed attorneys, both apparent violations of state law.
Texas officials have also thrown together a mishmash system of courts and jails to address the problem, a response that has cost millions of dollars.
Then came Abbott’s inspections of commercial trucks in April that backlogged the border and likely cost the state’s economy more than $4 billion. The inspections turned up… nothing.
The most tragic consequence of this abysmal policy is the death of National Guard soldier Bishop Evans, who lost his life last month trying to save two immigrants from drowning in the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass.
Evans’ death has raised big questions about how prepared guardsmen are to help migrants during river crossings and what type of equipment they have available to them in these dangerous situations.
There are other examples of the failures plaguing this operation since it started last year, but all point to the need for the governor and his supporters to end the chaos — and end it now.
Through all the chaos, officials have misled the public about the operation, including failing to provide evidence to support the claim that troops have cited hundreds of gang members, according to an investigation by ProPublica, the Texas Tribune and the Marshall Project.
Policies based solely on enforcement are ineffective because the issue does not begin at the border; it begins in the countries from which immigrants flee out of fear and desperation. They are escaping poverty, violence and oppression. Militarizing the border will not resolve those concerns, especially since many migrants are seeking asylum.
A more humane approach is required, one that addresses the humanitarian issues driving the exodus. This means comprehensive immigration reform that forms partnerships with our southern neighbors. The crisis demands a latter-day Marshall Plan, the U.S.-sponsored program that helped nations recovering from World War II.
The federal government’s failure to achieve this has created an opening for politicians like Abbott to exploit the border for potential political gain — at immense public cost. One might wonder, just how and when does Operation Lone Star end?
San Antonio Express-News
