![]() “Those legislators should listen to the complaints the Governor has heard during dozens of visits to border communities-complaints by constituents who are suffering the consequences of almost 2 million immigrants crossing the border illegally in the past 12 months.”Ībbott launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021, dispatching Texas National Guard, Department of Public Safety officers and other state resources to control the rising number of immigrant crossings at the border. “It comes as no surprise that Democrats who support President Biden's reckless and dangerous open border policies disagree with Governor Abbott's resolve to do the President's job and actually try to secure the border,” said Nan Tolson, a spokesperson for Abbott. ![]() “In 70% of cases charges are being dropped but that’s only after people are spending weeks in jail.”Ībbott’s office pushed back against the criticism in a statement to ABC News. “What we found is that officials are targeting Black and brown migrants in arrests and are frequently luring them in situations in which they are unknowingly on private property without permission,” ACLU of Texas lawyer Kate Huddleston told ABC News in a previous interview. They cited alleged incidents of racial profiling and cases where migrants were lured onto private land so they could be arrested. In December 2021, the ACLU of Texas and other civil rights groups asked the DOJ to investigate the mission, which authorizes members of the National and state law enforcement agencies to detain or arrest migrants suspected of trespassing on private or state property. In recent months, dozens of state lawmakers and members of Congress have called on the Department of Justice to investigate Operation Lone Star, citing concerns over civil rights violations and the reported suicides. The concerns raised by these members of the Guard add to the mounting pressure the program has already faced from Democratic lawmakers and advocates who say the mission violates the rights of immigrants who should be given the opportunity to seek asylum in the United States without fear of being detained for weeks at a time. Some of the guardsmen who spoke to ABC News say word of the suspected suicides of four members of the National Guard since October has also prompted them to come forward. They say those problems have ranged from pay delays to poor housing arrangements and inadequate training to assist Border Patrol in apprehending immigrants. ![]() The Texas National Guard and the Department of Public Safety have been collaborating under Operation Lone Star to stem what they describe as the flow of undocumented immigrants coming across the southern border and to combat drug trafficking.ĪBC News has spoken to three soldiers in the Guard who asked that their names not be used so they can talk freely about the issues they say are affecting morale among some of their fellow service members deployed to the border. Greg Abbott’s controversial immigration initiative, Operation Lone Star, are raising several concerns about their mission, including reports that some guardsmen have died in suspected suicides. Members of the Texas National Guard deployed to the southern border under Gov.
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