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July 1, 2022 | Austin, Texas | Press Release

Governor Greg Abbott, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), and the Texas National Guard are continuing to work together to secure the border, stop the smuggling of drugs, weapons, and people into Texas, and prevent, detect, and interdict transnational criminal behavior between ports of entry.

Since the launch of Operation Lone Star, the multi-agency effort has led to more than 270,400 migrant apprehensions and more than 16,700 criminal arrests, with more than 14,000 felony charges reported. More than 5,600 weapons and more than $42.8 million in currency have been seized. Additionally, law enforcement have turned back more than 22,700 migrants from crossing the border.

Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps left by the Biden Administration's refusal to secure the border. 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.

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS FROM OPERATION LONE STAR:

Governor Abbott Expands Border Security Operations, Including DPS Strike Teams, Vehicle Inspection Checkpoints

Governor Greg Abbott on Wednesday announced the expansion of the states border security operations by creating Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) strike teams, establishing new inspection checkpoints targeting semi-trucks, and the deployment of additional resources from the Texas Military Department to mitigate President Bidens growing border crisis. At a press conference in Eagle Pass, the Governor outlined ways Operation Lone Star agency partners are adding more resources and implementing strategies to secure all land owned or controlled by state and local governments along the border.

Until President Biden decides to uphold immigration laws passed by Congress, the State of Texas will continue utilizing every tool available to secure the border and keep Texans and Americans safe," said Governor Abbott.

Watch the press conference.

WATCH: Governor Abbott Discusses President Bidens Inaction On Border Security Following This Weeks Mass Casualty Tragedy

Governor Greg Abbott joined Fox News Jesse Watters this week to discuss how the Biden Administrations open border policies led to more than 50 migrants deaths in an abandoned tractor trailer.

With President Biden eliminating border security operations enacted by President Trump, the problem of human smuggling along the Texas-Mexico border has grown exponentially. The Governor also noted that President Biden has not introduced any plan to combat the cartels responsible for human smuggling and criminal activity.

WATCH: Governor Abbott Addresses Increasingly Dangerous Situation At Border

This week, Governor Abbott discussed with Fox News' Sean Hannity the dangerous situation at the Texas-Mexico border in the absence of robust federal actions to mitigate illegal migrant crossings and criminal activity. Following the deaths of more than 50 migrants smuggled in a tractor trailer, the Biden Administration has failed to address the realities of the issue.

FOX NEWS: DPS Crime Lab In Houston Analyzes Deadly Fentanyl Pouring Across The Border From Mexico

Fox News Alexis McAdams tours DPS Houston crime lab, where DPS forensic scientists process fentanyl seized from across Texas. Nearly every street drug analyzed by the lab is laced with the synthetic opioid. Most of the fentanyl at the Houston lab arrives in pill form, but sometimes it arrives in a kilo form that contains up to 500,000 lethal doses with the potential to kill hundreds of thousands of people.

DPS Commercial Motor Vehicle Inspection At Facility In Pharr Results In Over 25 Bundles Of Seized Cocaine

A commercial motor vehicle inspection at the DPS Border Inspection Safety Facility in Pharr resulted in the seizure of more than 25 bundles of cocaine from a tractor trailer that originated in Mexico. The driver was arrested and charged with possession with intent to distribute. The total weight of the cocaine was nearly 60 lbs. with a street value of over $900,000.

WATCH: DPS Lt. Olivarez Tells Fox News Biden Administration Is Giving False Information To Americans On Border Crisis

DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez says the federal government has failed in its responsibility to secure the border, which resulted this week in the deaths of more than 50 migrants in a single incident. DPS troopers are seeing an increase in human smuggling events across the border region and expect more tragic consequences from the Biden Administrations disregard of securing the border and combatting criminal activity.

Texas National Guard Establishes Blocking Position On Rio Grande With Tactical Vehicles, Riverine Assets

Last week, Texas National Guard soldiers established blocking positions on the Rio Grande using tactical vehicles and riverine assets. The areas surrounding the Hidalgo International Bridge are known for high volumes of illegal human trafficking and narcotic smuggling. The primary mission of the Tactical Response Unit is operations on the river, but teams routinely dismount on the Texas side of the river to interdict criminal activity.

WATCH: DPS Lt. Olivarez Calls For Accountability From Federal Authorities Over Increasing Cases Of Human Smuggling

DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez puts the blame for the rising number of human smuggling incidents on the Biden Administrations border policy failures. Why would they cancel the border policies that were working? Thats the question that needs to be asked, Lt. Olivarez tells Fox News Sara Carter.

Texas National Guard Continues To Interdict, Apprehend Illegal Migrants Across Multiple Border Counties

The Texas National Guard has apprehended and referred more than 151,000 persons attempting to enter into Texas since March 2021. Illegal migrants attempting to evade detection make up the highest number of encounters along the Texas-Mexico border with an additional 92,000 surrenders.

As part of Operation Lone Star, soldiers continue to interdict and apprehend illegal migrants across multiple counties along the Texas border region.

VIDEO: DPS Troopers Engage In Pursuit Of Driver Attempting To Smuggle Five Illegal Migrants Into U.S.

DPS troopers pursued a driver in Kinney County who was later charged with evading arrest, smuggling of persons, and unlawful carry of a weapon. The driver was attempting to smuggle five illegal migrants into the U.S.

Texas National Guard Employ Riverine Assets To Interdict Criminal Activity Along Rio Grande

Texas National Guard employs more than 50 riverine assets along the Texas-Mexico border as part of Operation Lone Star to interdict criminal activity. The boats add capacity and flexibility to law enforcement assets along the Rio Grande and allow access to remote areas of land to maximize security operations.

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Operation Lone Star Seizing Record Amounts Of Fentanyl, DPS Crime Lab Finds Fentanyl In Most Street Drugs - Office of the Texas Governor

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Nearly four dozen migrants were found dead in an overheated tractor trailer on an industrial road in south San Antonio Monday. Many of them had been sprinkled with steak seasoning in a possible attempt by smugglers to ward off authorities, law enforcement officials said.

The sheer scale and disturbing details, including migrants who apparently tried to escape the suffocating triple-digit temperatures inside the truck by jumping to their deaths along several city blocks, were horrific.

Large numbers of fatalities along the most heavily trafficked northbound path from Mexico and Central America, for decades the route of those seeking the American dream, are not unusual or unprecedented. Still, the staggering amount Monday, more than any in recent memory, stunned law enforcement and migrant advocates alike.

The magnitude may reflect more migrants seeking increasingly dangerous pathways to come here as enforcement policies along the border both by the Biden administration and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have strengthened. Biden has kept in place a pandemic-era regulation from the Trump administration that expels many migrants immediately without asylum hearings.

Immigration officials have recorded a record number of apprehensions at the southwest border under the Biden administration, with most single men and some families sent back to Mexico. People caught crossing repeatedly have also peaked under the administrations policies, which effectively curtail many asylum-seekers.

As the prospect of being able to stay in the U.S. and seek that protection has become more difficult, deaths have risen. At least 650 migrants died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in 2021, more than in any other year since the International Organization for Migration, a part of the United Nations, began tracking the data in 2014.

The border is more closed down now than almost any time in history, said Allison Norris, a supervising attorney for immigration legal services for the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington. This has led folks to increasingly seek out smugglers and engage in more dangerous ways of getting across the border.

She said most of her clients would prefer to turn themselves into official ports of entry at the border and seek asylum rather than crossing illegally, which is usually much more dangerous and involves risky journeys through thick Texas brush or deserts and ruthless smugglers.

But under the Trump and Biden administrations policies of expelling migrants or keeping them in Mexico to wait for their asylum hearing, that was more difficult, she said.

Before Monday, the worst smuggling-related mass fatality in recent Texas history came in 2003, when 19 people died after being trapped in an unrefrigerated dairy truck for hundreds of miles.

Authorities later estimated that the temperature rose above 170 degrees as the desperate migrants inside tried to claw their way out of the insulated trailer. The Houston-bound truck stopped in Victoria, where the driver unhitched the trailer and drove off.

Seventeen people were found dead in the trailer, and two later died. The driver was ultimately tried on federal charges and sentenced to 34 years in prison.

San Antonio was the scene of another mass tragedy in 2017, when 39 people were found in a truck trailer in a Walmart parking lot. Eight died in the truck, and two later at a hospital. The driver of the vehicle was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

In 1987, 19 men died after being left locked in a boxcar on a railroad siding near Sierra Blanca in far West Texas in what a Border Patrol official at the time called a tragic series of errors and misjudgments.

The men had crossed into the United States near El Paso, and were herded by a smuggler into a heavily insulated boxcar with massive thick floors and walls. The Dallas-bound car sat on a siding for hours as the temperature inside soared.

The men tried to escape, but the floors were too thick, a lone survivor later told authorities.

The use of commercial vehicles to smuggle people into the United States from Mexico, or move undocumented individuals already in the country, is a decades-long problem. There is little evidence the problem has lessened with the enhanced presence of National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers along the Texas-Mexico border this past year as part of Abbotts controversial border security program, Operation Lone Star.

Earlier this month in Corpus Christi, a 24-year-old Mission resident pleaded guilty to federal smuggling charges for trying to transport 73 people in a tractor-trailer. He was arrested at the Border Patrol checkpoint near Falfurrias after a search of his vehicle found dozens of people inside from Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Mexico and El Salvador.

Last January, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper found 28 migrants hidden inside a tractor-trailers sleeping cab. The driver has been charged with 28 counts of human smuggling and evading arrest.

DPS through the governors Operation Lone Star efforts has tried to highlight how its efforts are working to stop illegal immigration, even as the number of migrants crossing the border into Texas have surged nearly every month.

On the agencys Facebook site, videos show arrests including one from March in Carrizo Springs, where 76 migrants were discovered inside a commercial truck.

Not all commercial vehicles used are large 18-wheelers. In April 2016, a Michigan man was arrested trying to illegally transport 10 undocumented individuals inside a padlocked Penske rental truck. The defendant told Border Patrol agents that he had picked up the truck in Laredo and was driving it to Corpus Christi. The driver had no key to the trucks rear cargo area and temperatures were already in the 90s. An X-ray of the truck revealed the truck drivers human cargo

In recent years, Mexico has stepped up its own policing of smuggling under pressure from the United States. In 2019, more than 200 migrants were discovered hidden in secret compartments in various trucks by an X-ray scanner used by Mexico border officials.

U.S. transportation officials have long waged a public relations campaign against human smuggling via commercial ground vehicles. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration offers training on how to spot smugglers.

The more than a dozen migrants, including children, who remain hospitalized from Mondays tragedy in San Antonio might qualify for a visa providing legal residency in the United States for migrants who are crime victims or cooperating witnesses, said Norris, the attorney with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington.

But some qualifying migrants could have a harder time tapping this immigration benefit because of Title 42, the pandemic health order the Trump and Biden administrations have used more than 2 million times since March 2020 to immediately expel a majority of recent border crossers, including asylum-seekers.

Taylor Levy, an immigration attorney in California, said its likely that the surviving migrants could be held in federal custody during the investigation and ultimately kicked out of the country.

Unfortunately, we have seen in the past that being victimized by ones smugglers is oftentimes insufficient to protect from being deported, Levy said.

Terri Langford contributed to this report.

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Death is a constant risk for undocumented migrants entering Texas - The Texas Tribune

WASHINGTON Ed Gonzalez, President Bidens nominee to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said on Monday that he was withdrawing from consideration after a long-troubled nomination.

In a letter to the president, Mr. Gonzalez, the sheriff of Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston, and a fierce critic of hard-line policies at the agency he was tapped to lead, said he had withdrawn in the best interest of the nation. He noted that he was nominated 14 months ago, and said he needed to focus his full, undivided attention on his duties as sheriff.

With the bitter political divide over immigration swirling around his nomination, Sheriff Gonzalez had faced a difficult path from the start. But his confirmation process was further weighed down and delayed for months after Senator James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, released a police affidavit that accused Sheriff Gonzalez of domestic abuse of his wife, Melissa.

Both Sheriff Gonzalez and his wife had denied the allegations. The police officer who wrote the affidavit later told a Senate committee in a deposition that corroborating evidence he mentioned in the affidavit did not exist, according to a summary of the committees findings. An aide for the committee added that its investigators could not find any evidence to corroborate the allegations.

The withdrawal was yet another blow both to ICE, which has not had a permanent director since the Obama administration, and to the Biden administration, which has seen immigration become a political liability as it has struggled to contain surges of migrants at the border and replace many of the hard-line policies it inherited. It came on a day that the bodies of at least 46 people believed to be migrants were found dead in and around a tractor-trailer on the outskirts of San Antonio.

Sheriff Gonzalez would have been a great leader of ICE, the White House said in a statement. We thank Sheriff Gonzalez for his willingness to serve in the face of baseless allegations against his family.

The nomination of Sheriff Gonzalez, who had sharply criticized the Trump administrations deportation policies, represented a major departure from the hard-line immigration chiefs who had served under President Donald J. Trump. As sheriff, he had ended a partnership with ICE because, he said, the program encouraged illegal racial profiling.

That repudiation of Mr. Trump, as well as ICE, drew criticism from Senate Republicans. But for Mr. Biden, the nomination had been a step toward fulfilling his promise of more humane immigration policies under his administration.

America has shown the world that its not only possible to survive, but thrive, as a nation that welcomes those seeking a new home and a better life through hard, honest work, Sheriff Gonzalez said during his confirmation hearing last year.

Sheriff Gonzalezs withdrawal was the latest in a series of setbacks for that pledge, for efforts to fill vacant leadership positions at the Homeland Security Department and for Mr. Bidens immigration agenda as a whole. A long-planned attempt to lift a major pandemic-era immigration restriction was blocked by a federal judge last month. Another federal judge on Saturday suspended a Biden administration policy that prioritized the arrest of undocumented immigrants who are considered a threat, rendering millions of people vulnerable to deportation.

Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, has also faced withering criticism by Republican lawmakers as a momentous surge in migration across the southwestern border has overwhelmed immigration agencies. And deportations of Haitian emigrants have spiked even as the Biden administration faces criticism from progressive groups and lawmakers over how it treats Black migrants.

Sheriff Gonzalez said he would now devote his energy to leading his department and addressing the rising crime and overcrowded jails in his county.

I am grateful to President Biden for the honor of nominating me, he said on Twitter on Monday. And I wish this administration well as it strives to overcome the paralyzing political gridlock that threatens far more than our nations border. Frankly, the dysfunction threatens Americas heart and soul.

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Ed Gonzalez, Bidens Long-Stalled Nominee to Lead ICE, Withdraws - The New York Times

Dear Editor:

So glad to see the Hudson Reporter is covering the issue of Carepoint hospitals becoming non-profit from for-profit. Most people would be delighted since for-profit hospitals, stabilize patients in emergencies but do not treat them if they lack insurance.

But here are my concerns, during the early 2000s, the New York Times had many letters to the editor from CEOs of non-profit hospitals complaining about treating illegal immigrants and not being reimbursed by the state. Immigrants who lacked insurance used the emergency rooms of hospitals for their typical healthcare. Joe Biden is now placing thousands of people who crossed the borders in places like New York and New Jersey, so are we facing the same problem?

I was absolutely shocked St. Vincent Hospital went belly-up for this reason, that hospital has been around since the Civil War and treated many patients, especially AIDS patients but could not survive the bills piling up due to illegal immigration.

A number of hospitals have also closed in Hudson County while our population continues to grow. I hope this newspaper follows up on this issue. Who pays the bills of immigrants crossing the border and will our hospitals survive if those bills are not paid?

Yvonne Balcer

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Will hospitals survive? - The Hudson Reporter

Approximately eighteen months ago there was significant public commentary and proposed solutions by the current government and their self-proclaimed sheriff to stopping illegal migration and human trafficking, particularly the infamous sloops.

As I write this article, a press release has been issued stating that an illegal vessel has been intercepted with 137 persons onboard. Ironically, this has become the status quo with this administration, send a release and keep talking tough. Transitioning to present day, the self-proclaimed sheriff seems not to be able to proverbially speaking, shoot straight with an effective strategy or policy.

However, I must make mention of the increase in penalties for human smuggling and other immigration offences amendments was an encouraging approach, with support from the opposition in the House of Parliament, otherwise the current government has not established an effective national strategy to this vexing problem.

As Turks and Caicos Islanders, we all know of the negative externalities of human smuggling and the illegal entry of sloops to our shores, such as gun smuggling, narcotics smuggling and the public health and security risk to our communities nationwide. By extension, the illegal migration tentacles dont stop at our borders. They reach deep into our scarce natural resources, with the development of unsafe housing and squatter villages, which can be a breeding ground for criminality and unsavory behaviors.

This occurs while our very own Turks and Caicos Islander cannot get access to their own land to build the life they desire in their own country. This is one primary reason to act with haste in developing a national strategy with a focus on curbing this trade.

During this government's tenure thus far, the Turks and Caicos Islands has been inundated with illegal sloops breaching our borders. To be more precise, in 2021 there were 15 sloops intercepted, carrying over 1,400 persons and 8 confirmed landings of illegal vessels that were not intercepted with an unknown number of persons that the government is aware of, as shared in public releases and forums.

I commend the law enforcement agencies associated with the interceptions. In 2022, thus far 8 sloops carrying approximately 860 illegal migrants have been intercepted and approximately 9 landed with an unknown number of persons and cargo. More boats landed in this country this year than were intercepted.

To be plain speaking, this is overwhelming on our immigration personnel, marine branch, our tax dollars and a serious threat to our national security. If we do a simple conservative estimated calculation of $250.00 per illegal migrant, excluding detention cost, security and food, the numbers add up. So what will the Sheriff do?

Many would ask what did the previous administration do to combat this national security concern? Well, here is a summary of what they accomplished during their governance as it relates to illegal migration and national security. The question will also be asked, was it enough?

Comparatively they may have a superior case.

Implemented an MOU with The Bahamas to Patrol TCI waters. Allocated financing for additional Coastal Radar Coverage Established the first Permanent Secretary of National Security Office Established the National Security strategy to implement strategy on illegal Migration, Security and Crime Advance Passenger Information Systems New marine police vessels Establishment of the TCI Regiment. (Lets compare and contrast the above with what this current administration has accomplished as it related to illegal migration and national security, roughly halfway through their term); Increased penalties for illegal migration Increased personnel for the Task Force (ongoing) Outside of the above-mentioned accomplishments, that I am aware of, the sheriff has been proverbially shooting blanks to combat illegal migration and human smuggling operations into the Turks and Caicos Islands, and I state this from an open and objective prospective.

In the area of national security, the people of these islands want an effective approach to curbing this illicit trade, not just tough talk, but tough action and transformative ideas. To transform the ways in which we combat the vexing illegal trade, we must give our best and brightest law enforcement minds an opportunity to brainstorm and contribute to this national security threat.

Having worked in the field for over twenty years, I know that the best ideas does not always originate at the top. Speaking of transformation, I will share several suggestions that the sheriff may want to consider.

Procure two cutters to patrol our territorial waters on 24hr basis. This will allow for a return at sea process, heighten our enforcement and patrol capabilities. Construct a modern detention center for migrant processing and detention to improve health, safety, and security of our officers. Establish an immigration court to swiftly deal with immigration matters, persons charged with immigration offences remain in the TCI on bail too long and continue to be a national security threat. Reduce the pull factors by not processing work permit applications for persons who enter the TCI illegally. Cease issuing work permits to persons seeking employment through TC Islanders who themselves dont have gainful employment, introduce a means test process for TC Islanders applying for work permits. Increase radar coverage for the entire Turks and Caicos Islands archipelago. Train and arm the Immigration Task Force to combat the threats they encounter and enhance intelligence gathering capabilities.

Whilst these recommendations may not be a cure all, we must change our current land and sea strategies on this issue. The cost of heightening our national security is worth ever expense, or we can continue with the antiquated methods we are currently using, which we have seen the negative results. The choice is clear; act or be outnumbered in our own country. Therefore, the overarching question is, can the sheriff and his deputies stop the sloops, or not?

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What will the Sheriff do about The Sloops? - Turks and Caicos Sun