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National Guard soldiers stand guard near the U.S. and Mexico border in Del Rio on July 24, 2021.
Operation Lone Star

Deplorable conditions, unclear mission: Texas National Guard troops call Abbott’s rushed border operation a disaster

The governor has sent waves of troops to the border as Guard officials scramble to execute a massive mobilization that would normally take months to plan. Some Guard members say the operation has set back their income, education and well-being.

By Davis Winkie, Military Times, and James Barragán, The Texas Tribune
A group migrants waits at a gate near the U.S. and Mexico border in Del Rio on July 22, 2021. The group turned themselves over to the National Guard and Customs and Border Protection officials.

Hurried deployment plagued by pay problems

Gov. Greg Abbott speaks with Steve McCraw, Director of Department of Public Safety, before holding a press conference with nine other governors at Anzalduas Park in Mission on Oct. 6, 2021.

Abbott's expansion under a political microscope

Gov. Greg Abbott looks at crane lifting a section of the border wall in place after giving a press conference at Rio Grande City on Dec. 18, 2021.
A portion of the newly-erected border fence that is being constructed by the state on private property in Del Rio on July 23, 2021.
National Guard and law enforcement vehicles near the U.S. and Mexico border in Del Rio on July 22, 2021.

Inadequate planning time led to logistics problems

Members of the Texas National Guard, seen here on Dec. 8, work 12- to 13-hour shifts guarding the Texas border wall, construction crews and materials near Del Rio. Thousands of National Guard troops were deployed to Del Rio after an increase in migration at the southern border.
Asylum seekers who have just crossed the border are led by a National Guard troop to be apprehended by Customs and Border Protection in Roma on Aug. 3, 2021.

"All we're doing is staring into nothing"

National Guard soldiers stand guard near the U.S. and Mexico border in Del Rio on July 22, 2021.

Will Operation Lone Star gut the Texas Guard?

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