Operation Lone Star

A Travis County judge Thursday tossed out the trespassing charge of an Ecuadorian man who said he came to the United States seeking asylum. His lawyers argued that the governor’s directive to arrest migrants on state charges unconstitutionally usurps federal immigration law. Full Story 

The call for action from Texas Democrats comes as another service member based in the city of Pharr survived a suicide attempt on Sunday, according to an incident report obtained by Army Times and The Texas Tribune. Full Story 

Abbott said the suicides are being investigated and thinks it will come out that not all “actually occurred during Operation Lone Star.” Full Story 

Legislative leaders overseeing the Texas Military Department say they are looking into reports of suicides, habitual pay problems and poor working conditions on Gov. Greg Abbott's highly touted border mission. Full Story 

Abbott’s political challenger said guard members deployed to Operation Lone Star are facing late pay, being exposed to COVID-19, experiencing supply shortages and dealing with added stress that has led to multiple suicides tied to the mission. Full Story 

In a 50-page complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice, immigrant and civil rights groups argued Gov. Greg Abbott’s initiative to arrest migrants on trespassing charges is discriminatory. Full Story 

Despite a surge of arrests under Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security initiative, a Kinney County judge removed three judges who have been helping him hear the cases. The judges had been letting some of the migrants out after months in prison, and defense attorneys say the action is retaliatory. Full Story 

Migrants arrested under Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security push have been imprisoned for weeks or months waiting to appear before a judge. About 90 were finally to receive hearings this week, but court proceedings were canceled. Full Story 

Defense attorneys have started asking courts to set migrants free because local justice systems, overwhelmed by arrests under Gov. Greg Abbott's border security push, are routinely violating state law and constitutional due process rights. Full Story 

Under Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security push, Texas state police have arrested hundreds of migrants in the conservative county, usually after spotting them on cargo trains or walking remote ranch lands. Sent to a state prison retooled as an immigration jail, many men were left without lawyers for weeks. Full Story 

Proponents of House Bill 9 denounced the Biden administration’s approach to border security, saying the state had no choice but to step in to ramp up enforcement. Full Story 

The bill would nearly triple border security funding from the last biennium. The legislation needs one more vote of approval from the House before moving to the Senate. Full Story 

After more than three weeks in jail, a trespassing charge against the man was dropped because state troopers shouldn’t have arrested him under Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security push. He wound up in bureaucratic limbo for days as federal agencies passed the responsibility for resolving his immigration status. Full Story 

The governor's decision to go all in on border security is evolving rapidly, and many of those on the ground don't know how it's going to work. Full Story 

Border-crossing immigrants are being arrested by Texas troopers on state charges like trespassing, and they’re starting to trickle into a prison emptied to house them. Full Story 

The prison — Dolph Briscoe Unit in Dilley — will have capacity for about 1,000 people. Full Story 

The governor's announcement Thursday that Texas would build its own border wall was Abbott's boldest move yet in an intensifying focus on the region. Full Story 

Abbott said the increase in fentanyl seizures correlates with President Joe Biden taking office in January and implementing new border policies. Full Story 

Apprehensions of migrants have increased substantially at the U.S.-Mexico border since October. Full Story 

Abbott said it is the federal government’s responsibility to test the migrants. Full Story