CNS News writer Michael Chapman joins to discuss Operation Lone Star which mobilizes the TX National Guard, Department Of Public Safety, and the TX Military Department at the border.
According to the Texas Indigent Defance Committee, "Governor Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021 to respond to a rise in illegal immigration. In May, Governor Abbott issued a disaster declaration that now covers 48 counties, mostly counties along or near the border. The declaration directed the Department of Public Safety to “use available resources to enforce all applicable federal and state laws to prevent the criminal activity along the border, including criminal trespassing, smuggling, and human trafficking, and to assist Texas counties in their efforts to address those criminal activities.” The following month, the Governor opened Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) facilities for detaining arrested persons under Operation Lone Star.
The program, according to a press release released Friday, "has led to over 350,000 illegal immigrant apprehensions and more than 24,000 criminal arrests, with more than 22,000 felony charges reported. In the fight against fentanyl, DPS has seized over 362 million lethal doses of fentanyl during this border mission."
On the subject of Fentanyl, CNS News Writer Michael Chapman said that "I think a lot of the liberal media don't want other states to follow suit or to give this much attention across the country." and that [Governor Abbot] "has said that the Biden administration refuses to secure the border and these policies are just a broader invitation for illegal immigrants, drug dealers, human traffickers, and so on. And he's trying to do everything he can as the governor of Texas to try to secure the border and try to protect the people in Texas, but even also to protect a lot of these folks. They're coming illegally, but he's trying to protect them as well, because there's human trafficking, there's crime, there's drugs, and he's trying to deal with it in a legal, orderly fashion.