Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Department of Public Safety launched “Operation Lone Star” over the weekend after a surge of people at the Texas-Mexico border continued to try and get into the U.S. in response to Biden administration policies.
The Texas National Guard is also involved in the operation, tasked with deploying air, ground, marine and tactical border security to high threat areas to deny Mexican cartels and other smugglers the ability to move drugs and people into Texas.
“The crisis at our southern border continues to escalate because of Biden Administration policies that refuse to secure the border and invite illegal immigration,” Abbott said in a statement. “Texas supports legal immigration but will not be an accomplice to the open border policies that cause, rather than prevent, a humanitarian crisis in our state and endanger the lives of Texans. We will surge the resources and law enforcement personnel needed to confront this crisis.”
When asked by a reporter last week if there is a crisis at the border, Biden replied, “No, we’ll be able to handle it.”
But even Texas Democrats – concerned about 10,000 people arriving every week at one border entry, many testing positive for COVID-19 – say Biden’s immigration policy is a disaster. Many of those entering illegally are now being released into the community because of Biden’s policy reinstating the “catch and release” program, which was ended under the previous administration.
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, whose district extends from the Rio Grande along the Mexican border to the San Antonio suburbs, warned, “We are weeks, maybe even days, away from a crisis on the southern border. Inaction is simply not an option. Our country is currently unprepared to handle a surge in migrants in the middle of the pandemic.”