Texas Gov. Greg Abbott celebrated his state arresting Almost 500,000 migrants in a new report released Tuesday.
Abbott, a Republican, issued a report praising his efforts to protect the United States-Mexico border in the wake of an increase in migrant crossings in recent months. He has claimed that President Joe Biden’s immigration and border security policies led to an “invasion” of Texas.
His actions, some of which have been denounced as harsh, have caused legal disputes with the Biden administration, which claims the federal government has broader authority to regulate the border.
In 2021, he announced “Operation Lone Star,” a multibillion-dollar border-security operation. The program has seen the Texas government transport thousands of migrants to Democratic-run “sanctuary cities,” which protect undocumented immigrants from deportation, as well as implement controversial measures like razor wire and floating barriers along the border, which the federal government has challenged in court.
In his “2024 Report to the People of Texas,” Abbott praised the state’s immigration efforts, noting that more than $11 billion has been allocated to the border and that more than 458 million doses of fentanyl have been collected.
Abbott boasted that there had been “over 494,400 illegal immigrant apprehensions” in Texas by the end of 2023.
“Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps created by the Biden administration’s refusal to secure the border,” the summary of the study states. “Every individual who is apprehended or arrested and every ounce of drugs seized would have otherwise made their way into communities across Texas and the nation due to President Biden’s open-border policies.”
Notably, according to data from US Customs and Border Protection, the bulk of fentanyl is confiscated at authorized ports of entry rather than in transit. According to CBS News, from 2017 to 2021, 86 percent of those detained for alleged fentanyl trafficking were American citizens.
Abbott’s popularity in Texas has risen as a result of his border crackdown, according to the Texas Politics Project, which conducts regular approval rating surveys. In February, 53 percent of Texans thought Abbott was a good person, with only 37 percent thinking he was bad.
One year earlier, in February 2023, 46 percent of Texans approved of his job performance, while 43 percent gave him poor marks. Nonetheless, some Texas Texans remain critical of his border policy.
In the report, he also stated that his government has committed “resources to acquire 1,700 unused steel panels to build the border wall in Texas.” These panels were originally intended for former President Donald Trump’s border wall but were designated “surplus” when Biden halted work.
The study praising Abbott’s immigration efforts comes as he faces yet another legal battle over one of his policies, this time over a bill that would allow Texas police to arrest those suspected of crossing the border illegally. According to The Texas Tribune, the United States Supreme Court voted on Tuesday to prolong the law’s stay until at least March 18.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra already blocked the law’s implementation, noting that it “threatens the fundamental notion that the United States must regulate immigration with one voice,” according to the newspaper.
