Free Republic

The number of Border Patrol encounters with illegal aliens in Texas continued to plunge in February, thanks to the effectiveness of Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star. Meanwhile, encounters spiked again in California and Arizona, where Democrat governors are in charge, as illegal aliens increasingly turned their focus to more welcoming borders. Through Operation Lone Star, Gov. Abbott has installed wire fencing at the border, deployed floating border barriers and called out the Texas National Guard to deter illegal immigration. And his efforts have been successful. Through the first five months of Fiscal Year 2024 (Oct.-Feb.), the number of...

(The Center Square) – An Operation Lone Star task force that has seen a number of successes is expanding throughout the state to combat cartel and gang crime, led by Goliad County Sheriff Roy Boyd. Law enforcement officials from over 30 agencies met for an operational meeting this week to discuss future goals as well as expansion efforts with Texas Border Czar Mike Banks. The Center Square has reported exclusively on Boyd’s task force operations since the multi-agency initiative was launched in 2022. Initially, the OLS Task Force involved 20 agencies, including 12 sheriff’s offices, seven city police departments and...

An NBC News review of available 2024 crime data from the cities targeted by Texas’ “Operation Lone Star,” which buses or flies migrants from the border to major cities in the interior — shows overall crime levels dropping in those cities that have received the most migrants. Overall crime is down year over year in Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, New York and Los Angeles. Crime has risen in Washington, D.C., but local officials do not attribute the spike to migrants.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has reasserted the state's "right to defend from invasion" and condemned the Biden administration's failed border policies. The governor's update on Operation Lone Star, which he launched in 2021 to try to secure the Texas-Mexico border, said Texan authorities have detained 501,300 illegal immigrants under the scheme and seized 467 million "lethal doses" of fentanyl. Tensions between Texan authorities and the Biden administration surged after the Supreme Court ruled on January 22 that federal agents can remove razor-wire placed across the Texas-Mexico border on Abbott's orders by the state's National Guard. In response, Abbott invoked what...

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday signed a measure to make illegal entry into the Lone Star State a state crime, giving state law enforcement a potentially pivotal tool to combat illegal immigration on its own amid perceived federal apathy. The law, which is slated to take effect in March, would empower Texas law enforcement to arrest illegal entrants and grant judges the ability to order their deportation, CNN reported. Under Abbott's leadership, Texas has conducted a unilateral effort to enforce its border dubbed "Operation Lone Star" that has prompted legal battles with federal government, including a dispute over...

EDINBURG, Texas — Former President Donald Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott served an early Thanksgiving meal to a host of law enforcement officers and Texas National Guard soldiers serving the border region as part of Abbott’s Operation Lone Star. The former president and Abbott are slated to deliver remarks to a crowd of Texas Rio Grande Valley officials and border residents later Sunday.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bluntly told President Biden in a letter Monday he's not backing away from his aggressive border security efforts despite the U.S. Justice Department's threat last week to sue on grounds that the state is usurping federal authority. "You must fully enforce the laws of the United States that prohibit illegal immigration between ports of entry," the Republican governor told the Democratic president. "In the meantime, Texas will fully utilize its constitutional authority to deal with the crisis you have caused. Texas will see you in court, Mr. President.”

There are more than 18,000 beds for the homeless on any given night in New York City. But Mayor Eric Adams and other city officials can’t find room for the 1,500 illegal aliens bused to the Big Apple over the last couple of weeks? A cursory examination of Mayor Adams’ criticism of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott reveals that Adams doesn’t have a leg to stand on. If there is a “crisis” in New York City of illegal aliens “overwhelming” the city, it’s been manufactured by Adams and Democratic members of his administration.

I just spoke with Sheriff Cross and other residents in Dade County about Gov. Abbott’s Operation Lone Star bussing of illegals through our Georgia county to Democrat cities like Washington DC and New York. While I will do everything in my power, in Congress to stop the daily border invasion, we do not want illegals bussed and dumped in Georgia. No state, city, or small town should be unnecessarily forced to provide the money and resources to care for migrants who most have been trained to abuse the asylum system.[...]

Four Texas National Guard troops have died in suspected suicides since October as the force rapidly expands to carry out Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to guard the Lone Star State’s border with Mexico, according to a report. An investigation by the Army Times published Thursday found that to meet Abbott’s troop quotas as part of Operation Lone Star, the Guard has resorted to involuntarily activating soldiers from across Texas. The report cited interviews with family members, Guard troops and official documents. Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Jason Featherston, the Texas Army National Guard’s senior enlisted leader from May 2020 until his...

Traders at Goldman Sachs may reap huge profits from the winter storm last month that left many across Texas and other Southern states without electricity, clean water and heat, Bloomberg News reported Friday. The Wall Street bank could make up to $200 million from the physical sale of power and natural gas and from financial hedges after spot prices jumped, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. SNIP Bloomberg reported that while the bank could make $200 million on paper, the actual profits collected are likely to be less, as regulators and consumers intervene with legal challenges in...

Texas state Rep. Bryan Slaton (R-Canton) introduced a bill proposing the border wall construction initiated under former President Donald Trump be completed by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). “President Trump fought to bring real border security and was opposed by Republicans and Democrats in Congress. While hundreds of miles of new wall were built under his leadership, the Biden administration has already ceased border wall construction,” Slaton said, reported The Texan.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced the deployment of the state’s National Guard and State Troopers to respond to the growing border crisis. Governor Abbott announced Operation Lone Star “to combat the smuggling of people and drugs into Texas” on Saturday. The operation will integrate the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) with the National Guard, Abbott said. He is ordering the deployment of air, ground, marine, and tactical border security assets to high threat areas. “The crisis at our southern border continues to escalate because of Biden Administration policies that refuse to secure the border and invite illegal immigration,” the...

He wasn't the first governor in the country to lift the mask mandate for his state. North Dakota, Montana and Iowa have ended state-wide mask orders in recent weeks and progressive states like Florida and South Dakota never issued them in the first place. But Gov. Greg Abbott did the country a huge favor this week when he announced that Texas was allowing all businesses in the state to reopen at full capacity on March 10. It was a loud and bold signal to the whole country that it's time to climb out of our basements, regain our freedoms and...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says there's "lots" of vote fraud, and states that claim the problem is only nominal do so simply because they don't investigate. "I can tell you there's lots of election fraud. We just don't come close to resources we need in Texas to pursue all the election fraud we have, let alone what's going on in other states," he said in an interview with One America News Network. He explained when he took over, the state had one prosecutor assigned to election fraud. Now there are three. "Those prosecutors are busy all the time," he...

McALLEN — Free health and dental care will be available to all residents of the Rio Grande Valley at different locations for the next two weeks. Operation Lone Star, which provided health care to more than 11,000 South Texas residents in two weeks last year, is expanding this summer to provide free health clinics in even more locations. Military personnel, state and county officials and hundreds of volunteers will provide free health services at locations in Brownsville, Raymondville, Lasara, San Juan, La Joya, Laredo, Hebbronville, Rio Grande City and Zapata in the next two weeks. The event is a joint...

Medical Rangers prepared to helphttp://www.temple-telegram.com/story/local/2006/7/17/33092 by Larry Causey Published July 17, 2006 Temple will be represented when the Texas Medical Rangers provide medical aid for about 6,000 people in the Rio Grande Valley during Operation Lone Star, July 22-Aug. 5. Gov. Rick Perry formed the Texas Medical Rangers as part of the Texas State Guard in March 2003, to reinforce emergency workers at large disasters. In 2005, the Rangers supported relief efforts for evacuees of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. They also took part in last year’s Operation Lone Star. About a dozen volunteers from the Temple Texas Medical Rangers will...