Operation Lone Star Proves States Can Secure the Border When Washington Won't

Why Did Texas Have to Act Alone?

The Biden administration dismantled detention agreements, ended the Remain in Mexico policy, and instructed ICE to focus only on the narrowest category of criminal aliens, which created a vacuum that Texas was forced to fill. Governor Greg Abbott called up the National Guard because Washington would not enforce the law.

The Constitution gives the federal government the power to secure the border. It does not give Washington the right to ignore the border and then sue states that pick up the slack. Yet that is exactly what happened after January 2021. The Biden administration halted wall construction, ended the Migrant Protection Protocols, and narrowed ICE enforcement priorities so dramatically that agents in the field began referring to their own agency as decorative.

Texas did not start a constitutional crisis. Texas responded to one. Governor Abbott sent troops to the river because ranchers in Kinney County found dead bodies on their property, because schools in Del Rio were overwhelmed, and because local hospitals could not absorb the cost of emergency care for thousands of foreign nationals. The federal government sent lawyers instead of buses.

Other states watched and did nothing. California expanded benefits. New Mexico advertised itself as a welcoming state. Arizona got distracted by internal politics. Only Texas treated the influx like an invasion. That is not hyperbole. When 10,000 people cross your river in a single week, language matters less than action.

What Has Operation Lone Star Actually Accomplished?

Since its launch in March 2021, Operation Lone Star has led to more than 517,000 criminal arrests, the seizure of over 489 million lethal doses of fentanyl, and the deployment of roughly 20,000 Texas National Guard troops along the Rio Grande. Those numbers come from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The operation works in layers. DPS troopers patrol highways and arrest human smugglers for reckless driving and state crimes. National Guardsmen install concertina wire and floating barriers in the river. Local prosecutors bring trespassing charges that keep repeat crossers in jail long enough for Border Patrol to take custody. It is not perfect, but it is measurable.

Eagle Pass shows the change. In late 2023, thousands of migrants camped at Shelby Park, forcing the city to close the park and reroute holiday events. By June 2025, daily crossings in the Del Rio Sector had dropped to levels not seen since 2020. The city got its park back. The smugglers lost their route.

The fentanyl numbers deserve special attention. CBP seized over 27,000 pounds of fentanyl nationwide in fiscal year 2024. Operation Lone Star accounts for a large share of the inland seizures that happen after loads slip past ports of entry. Every milligram seized is a potential funeral prevented.

Why Are Federal Courts Blocking State Enforcement?

Federal judges in Austin and elsewhere have repeatedly ruled that immigration enforcement is a federal power, even while the federal government abandons that power at the riverbank. The result is an absurd standoff where Texas protects its citizens and the Department of Justice sues the state for doing the job Washington refuses to do.

The Supreme Court has been asked repeatedly to draw a clean line. So far it has avoided a final ruling on the core question: can a state defend itself when the federal government refuses to defend the nation? The Framers would have laughed at the idea that sovereignty requires a permission slip from the very officials who opened the gate.

Lower courts have tied Texas in knots over buoy barriers, razor wire, and state trespassing laws. They grant emergency stays based on speculative harm to foreign nationals while dismissing the concrete harm to American communities. They lecture Texas about international treaties that the executive branch ignores every day. And they do it with straight faces.

This is not a debate over procedural etiquette. It is a debate over whether American citizens have a government at all. When a state must beg federal judges for the right to arrest trespassers on its own soil, the balance of power has collapsed. The judiciary should either enforce the law or get out of the way.

What Should Other States Do Now?

Arizona, New Mexico, and California should pass mirror statutes, deploy their own National Guard units, and sue the federal government for the unreimbursed costs of illegal immigration rather than accepting federal inaction as permanent. Voters in those states have every right to demand the same security that Texans are building for themselves.

Florida has already shown the way. Governor Ron DeSantis sent state resources to Texas in 2021 and later flew illegal migrants to Martha's Vineyard, forcing national media to notice a crisis they preferred to ignore. Other Republican governors followed with busing programs. Those moves were controversial. They were also effective.

But the long-term answer is legislation, not stunts. States should create cause of action allowing citizens to sue for the public costs of illegal immigration, from hospital bills to school overcrowding. They should withhold state contracts from businesses that knowingly hire illegal labor. They should strip in-state tuition from foreign nationals who crossed the border last year. These policies are popular because they are fair.

The November 2026 elections will decide whether this momentum continues. Border-state voters should ask every candidate one question: will you defend the citizens of this state, or will you apologize for doing so? Anyone who hesitates does not deserve the office. Texas has already answered. The rest of the country should too.