The governor has ordered thousands of state troopers and National Guard members to the border since last year. Here’s what you need to know about the initiative.
Immigration
In-depth reporting on border issues, policies, communities, and the impact of immigration across the state, from The Texas Tribune.
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Operation Lone Star
Help us investigate Texas border security initiatives
We’re looking into Texas’ border security initiatives, including what has worked, what hasn’t and how they affect residents. If you have experience on the border, we’d like to hear from you.
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Operation Lone Star
Gov. Greg Abbott brags about his border initiative. The evidence doesn’t back him up.
Arrests of U.S. citizens hundreds of miles from the border. Claiming drug busts from across the state. Changing statistics. The data that Texas leaders use to boast about Operation Lone Star raise more questions than answers.
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TribCast
TribCast: Operation Lone Star and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week
Gov. Greg Abbott’s controversial border mission was subject to a slew of bad news this week, including a major shakeup at the Texas Military Department, whose top leader Abbott replaced.
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Operation Lone Star
Shakeup of Texas border mission leadership continues as pair of two-star generals departs
The departure of three top officials in a week signals that officials may be looking to make changes to the heavily criticized mission. A soldier leading a unionization effort welcomed the moves.
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Operation Lone Star
National Guard troops were dispatched to famous Texas ranches with private security as part of border mission
The dispatching of troops to the sprawling private ranches, far from the border, raises questions about the use of National Guard troops, who have widely decried the mission as aimless, political and oversized, as the cost of the effort has already ballooned to $2 billion a year.
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State Government
Trump appointees are helping Texas derail Biden’s immigration agenda
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office has sued the Biden administration 20 times in Texas federal courts over everything from mask mandates to immigration policies. Trump-appointed judges have ruled in seven of them, all in favor of Texas.
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Operation Lone Star
Gov. Greg Abbott replaces Texas military leader who has overseen heavily criticized border mission
Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Suelzer will take over as the military department’s new leader. He replaces Maj. Gen. Tracy Norris, who was criticized for her handling of Operation Lone Star, as adjutant general of the Texas Military Department.
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Operation Lone Star
Webb County, a Democratic stronghold, is set to welcome Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s controversial migrant arrests
The county is the most populous to embrace the Republican governor’s “catch-and-jail” policy to arrest people accused of crossing the border illegally for state crimes, including trespassing.
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Unconventional Wisdom
Analysis: The Fred Rogers test, for Texas public officials
Texas voters can get some guidance for sorting through the political noise of campaigns from an unlikely source — a comforting tale for children.
