Let this be a lesson to every American border state; since 2021, Texas has apprehended over half a million illegal aliens, and has deterred illegal border crossings numbering in the six digits. They call it Operation Lone Star, as apt a project name as has ever been used in these United States.
This, folks, is how you do it:
Gov. Greg Abbott first launched OLS on March 4, 2021, in response to an unprecedented number of illegal border crossers and crime within the first couple of months of the Biden administration.
From March 2021 through February 2026, OLS officers apprehended 538,141 illegal foreign nationals, including those referred to Border Patrol. They’ve also deterred 157,112 illegal entries, according to OLS data obtained by The Center Square.
OLS officers have pursued 5,135 bailouts – when illegal border crossers engage in high-speed chases and jump out of the vehicle to evade capture.
Yes, yes, I know – enforcing immigration law is properly the job of the federal government. That’s a valid point; immigration law is made in Congress, and the executive branch is charged with enforcing that law, specifically by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Border Patrol, and Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE.) That’s how it’s supposed to work.
But in 2021, that wasn’t how it was working. From almost the moment Joe Biden shuffled and drooled into the White House, immigration enforcement ground to a halt. Border states watched the invasion, and constitutionally, weren’t supposed to do anything about it – but that kind of thing can only go on for so long.
Texas took action. And Operation Lone Star is still working.
Although illegal crossings have dropped by more than 95% under the second Trump administration, crime is ongoing and cartel networks are embedded throughout Texas and nationwide. OLS 2.0 is targeting them and criminal actors designated as foreign terrorist organizations like Tren de Aragua. As TdA crime spread to dozens of states, in September 2024, Abbott expanded OLS operations to eradicate TdA, The Center Square reported.
Since OLS began, more than half a million Venezuelan nationals have been apprehended by Border Patrol agents in Texas after they illegally entered the U.S.
From Jan. 1, 2021, through Jan. 31, 2026, OLS officers apprehended 4,198 Venezuelans for crimes committed in Texas with a total of more than 7,200 charges.
There’s a learning experience here for the other border states.
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The constitutional issues are legitimate. Immigration enforcement is rightly the job of the executive branch of the federal government. But what’s a border state to do when Washington refuses to enforce the law?
It’s a difficult situation. Texas seems to have found a solution.
Back in my corporate days, the other consultants in the industry, many of whom I knew and worked with, often exchanged what we called “best practices.” When we found a good way to solve a problem, to make something work, we shared the knowledge. The same thing should be done here. Texas is clearly developing immigration enforcement strategies that work. They should share that information with the other border states and with DHS and ICE. And, frankly, vice versa.
The Biden administration left immigration policy and enforcement a real mess. If the states can come up with tactics and practices that work, it’s in everyone’s interest to have DHS and ICE in on it. Let Texas be the example.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump, illegal immigration into our great country has virtually stopped. Despite the radical left’s lies, new legislation wasn’t needed to secure our border, just a new president.
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