A Texas operation launched in 2021 has resulted in the arrests of nearly 10,000 illegal aliens on misdemeanor trespassing charges even before the state’s new law granting law enforcement the authority to arrest illegals takes effect in March, the Associated Press reported.
As part of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, in 2021, the state launched an operation in which landowners with property along the Texas/Mexico border enter agreements with the state authorizing law enforcement to make trespassing arrests of illegal aliens who cross through their properties.
In promoting the operation during a July 2021 appearance on Fox News, Governor Abbott predicted that when news of the trespassing arrests began to spread, illegals would “stop coming across the Texas border.”
However, despite the nearly 10,000 arrests since its launch, there is little sign that the operation has deterred the surge in illegal immigrants. In the 2021 fiscal year, over 1.2 million illegal aliens crossed the Texas border with Mexico. In the 2022 fiscal year, the number increased to 1.5 million.
The trespassing operation was just one part of the nearly $10 billion Operation Lone Star project Governor Abbott launched to curb the surge in illegal border crossings since Joe Biden took office. The state also installed razor wire in various locations at the border and placed floating barriers in the Rio Grande. Texas has also relocated an estimated 80,000 illegals to various so-called Sanctuary Cities in the US, including Chicago, Denver, Washington, Los Angeles, and New York.
The state’s new law, which is set to take effect in March, would allow Texas law enforcement to arrest those crossing the border. However, the law is already facing challenges in court from civil rights organizations seeking to stop it from taking effect.
The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that the Biden Justice Department filed a lawsuit in federal court in Austin asking a judge to declare the law unconstitutional. The administration has accused the state of violating the Supremacy Clause, which maintains that federal laws supersede state law in most cases.
