(RepublicanReport.org) – Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) recently announced in a press release that he planned to build a new barrier along the state’s southern border. The move is part of a larger effort, dubbed Operation Lone Star, which is working to curb illegal immigration, catch criminal activity, and prevent smugglers from using easy access points to bring fentanyl and other deadly drugs into the United States.
Abbott is working alongside the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to continue the effort to fill gaps along the border and defend the region. The operation has reportedly enabled the arrests of 37,300 criminals, the apprehensions of over 488,500 illegal immigrants, and the seizure of over 450 million deadly doses of fentanyl since it began.
The additional anti-climb barrier construction, which the Texas Tribune reported in December 2021 to have an estimated cost of about $1.05 billion, is far from being Abbott’s most controversial move. The Texas governor has been in and out of the courtroom in his attempt to keep a 1000-foot floating barrier, composed of a string of unclimbable buoys, intact across the Rio Grande.
A judge initially ordered Abbott to remove the buoys in September, citing in the order that the barrier threatened human lives and impaired navigation across the river. Abbott appealed the finding, but the higher court sided with the original ruling on December 1, also ordering the Texas leader to remove the buoys. WFAA News 8, an affiliate of ABC, reported in June that Abbott said he would take the case as far as the Supreme Court if necessary.
Abbott’s office also claims responsibility for bussing over 75,500 migrants to six different liberal US cities between April 2022 and June 2023. The move has been a controversial one, with voters split over how they feel about its continued practice, but it has also forced self-proclaimed sanctuary cities to shoulder some of the border state’s heavy burden.
Copyright 2023, RepublicanReport.org
