According to Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, the state’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigration and Tren de Aragua (TdA) migrant gang activity have reduced illegal crossings by nearly 90% and resulted in close to 50,000 criminal arrests.
Abbott’s office said that the Texas-led campaign called “Operation Lonestar,” which was first launched in March 2021 and has seen the participation of over a dozen other Republican states, has led to 530,400 illegal immigrant apprehensions and over 49,900 criminal arrests, with more than 42,900 felony charges.
During this operation, Texas also became the first state to build a border wall on its own, continuing border wall construction at strategic points despite President Biden putting a stop to it in the early days of his administration.