Members of the Texas National Guard prevented 717 immigrants from entering the U.S. in just 24 hours. This is one of the most outstanding milestones made public in a recent statement issued by the Office of the Texas Governor while reviewing the current status of Operation Lone Star.
Operation Lone Star is an initiative launched by Governor Gregg Abbott in March 2021 to ensure border security in the state. The governor, the Texas National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) are all directly involved. It aims 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 reached Texas communities and the nation because of President Biden's open border policies," the release explains.
314,000 arrests and more than 337 million doses of fentanyl seized
According to data provided by the Governor's Office, Lone Star has achieved "314,000 migrant apprehensions and more than 20,800 criminal arrests, with more than 18,400 felony charges reported. In the fight against fentanyl, DPS has seized more than 337 million lethal doses of fentanyl during this border mission."
Sending immigrants to sanctuary cities, such as New York, is also part of this initiative. "Texas has also bused over 8,200 migrants to our nation's capital since April, over 3,300 migrants to New York City since Aug. 5, and more than 1,000 migrants to Chicago since August 31. The busing mission is providing much-needed relief to our overwhelmed border communities," the official statement said.
Human smuggling, a multi-million dollar business on the border
In an interview on the Fox network, Abbott lamented the Biden Administration's passivity in the face of the Texas border crisis. "The United Nations declared the U.S.-Mexico border - Biden's border - the most dangerous crossing in the entire world. If the Biden Administration did what I just did a few weeks ago, declaring the cartels as terrorist organizations, it would trigger a federal law that would allow him to go into the cartels’ bank accounts and get those billions of dollars that the cartels are making off this crisis," he said during the interview.
Among the principle crimes that Lone Star fights against is human trafficking. A fight that has intensified, as DPS Lieutenant Chris Olivarez explained: "We're seeing tragic events all across the southern border, and it's because these transnational criminal organizations are recruiting young drivers. Every person who crosses that river, whether they be an adult or a child, is paying a cartel member to get across, which enriches these cartels. Human smuggling is now a multi-billion dollar trade because of this border crisis," he denounced.
Also noteworthy is the arrest of a Honduran national wanted by Interpol for a murder committed in his country. Wilmer Castro-Murillo was arrested while trying to cross a private ranch in Maverick County.
