Operation Lone Star (OLS) is a mission initiated by Gov. Abbott in March 2021 as the state’s attempt to tackle immigration. Abbott issued a disaster declaration that covers 48 different counties near the border allowing the Texas Government to direct resources from the Department of Public Safety and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to the enforcement of Texas immigration policies. The operation includes the mobilization of over 10,000 Texas National Guard troops to the Mexico border, the inclusion of local law enforcement agencies in immigration enforcement, and the mass prosecution of migrants with class A misdemeanors for trespassing.
Funding for the operation has amounted to about $74.8 million including but not limited to: $38.4 million for law enforcement, jail operations, and court administration activities; $22.3 million for District and County Attorneys near the border or otherwise designated for prosecution resources; $14 million for border adjacent counties for criminal determent and detention of migrants; and $100 thousand for training and coordination of local sheriffs and police. The operation claims to have apprehended over 100,000 migrants and returned 9,000 to Mexico.
However, the operation has been met with both logistical difficulties and legal challenges. Last fall, Gov. Abbott sent a historic amount of Texas National Guard troops to the Mexico border in a matter of weeks; similar operations usually take months to plan and execute. The expedited process has led to delays in pay, harsh work conditions in remote areas and a lack of clarity on the mission of the troops. Morale among the troops is suspected to be at an all time low with four suicides reported since the mission’s start.
The mass arrests of migrants, mostly single men, in OLS frontline counties like Kenney and Val Verde have packed the Brisco prison turned detention center. Legal defense advocates claim that detainees are being held for weeks without charges being filed or having an attorney provided to them. Since these migrants are being charged with misdemeanors for trespassing their cases are not tried through immigration court, rather through county courts meaning that their extended detentions are infringing rights guaranteed to them in US criminal court. After waiting months on end to have their cases processed, the vast majority plead guilty with time served. They are then sent to be processed by immigration services, likely to be deported through Title 42 or have their asylum cases rejected due to their criminal charges.
Most recently Operation Lone Star is facing a substantial challenge from a legal defense group in Travis county. A Travis county judge ruled that the prosecution of an Ecuadorian migrant was unconstitutional since the state initiative undermined the federal government’s enforcement of immigration policy. The precedent set by this case creates the groundwork for a large legal battle over the constitutionality of this aspect of Operation Lone Star that will likely draw in the State Attorney General.