Latest news with #OperationLoneStar
The Hill
3 days ago
- The Hill
Former member of Texas National Guard convicted of conspiring to smuggle migrants
A former member of the National Guard has been convicted of conspiring to smuggle migrants into the country by a U.S. District Court in Texas. According to a press release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Mario Sandoval began smuggling people into the country in July 2024 after a deployment with the Texas National Guard as part of Operation Lone Star. During the one-day trial July 21, agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) presented text messages from Sandoval's phone in which he expressed needing drivers for trips from the Rio Grande Valley to destinations north of immigration checkpoints. Footage was also presented during the trial that showed him at an immigration checkpoint while sending texts about 'law enforcement and K-9 presence.' Investigators allege that Sandoval's actions were motivated by money. 'His actions directly undermined the very mission he was deployed to support and put his fellow guard members in danger,' Chad Plantz, a special agent with HSI Houston, said. Sandoval was discharged from the Texas National Guard in October 2024. The 27-year-old's defense argued that there was no conspiracy and that his text messages were taken out of context. His sentencing is scheduled for October 22, and he faces up to 10 years in federal prison. During a press conference July 2, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said there were 4,200 National Guardsmen on state active duty in support of Operation Lone Star in Texas. According to the Department of Justice, Sandoval's case is part of Operation Take Back America. The nationwide initiative is geared towards achieving the 'total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations.'
The Herald Scotland
06-07-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Budget bill includes $10B for states that spent on border security
"Under Operation Lone Star, Texas allocated more than $11 billion of Texas taxpayer money for border security, and earlier this year I requested Congress reimburse Texas for these costs in full," Abbott said in a May statement, after an initial version of the bill passed in the House of Representatives. The new "State Border Border Security Reinforcement Fund" earmarks $10 billion for grants to states that paid for border barriers or other security measures beginning Jan. 20, 2021 - President Joe Biden's inauguration day. Notably, during the Biden administration, no other state spent more than Texas on border security measures. Under Operation Lone Star, the state deployed thousands of Texas National Guard troops to the border, placed controversial buoy barriers in the Rio Grande and paid to bus more than 100,000 migrants to Democrat-led cities around the country. Abbott was one of Biden's leading critics on the border during a period when the Border Patrol was registering more than 2 million migrant encounters a year - many of them lawful asylum-seekers. The "reinforcement" provision "just says 'states can apply.' But what states incurred expenses? Texas and Arizona," said Adam Isacson, director of defense oversight for the Washington Office on Latin America. Early during the Biden administration, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, sought to build a makeshift border barrier out of old shipping containers. But legal challenges forced his administration to remove the barrier, and his Democratic successor, Gov. Katie Hobbs, had previously asked the Biden administration to reimburse the state for border security funding totaling $513 million. The budget reconciliation bill includes an additional $3.5 billion under a fund whose acronym spells BIDEN: "Bridging Immigration-related Deficits Experienced Nationwide." That money can be disbursed to states that aid the federal government in its immigration crackdown. In an emailed response to questions, Abbott Press Secretary Andrew Mahaleris declined to say how much money Texas will apply for but told USA TODAY the governor "will continue to work closely with the Trump administration to secure the border. "
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Budget bill includes $10B payday for states that spent on border security
Tucked into the budget reconciliation bill is a Texas-sized golden nugget: $13.5 billion that could pay back what the state spent on border security during the Biden administration. The bill – which passed Congress on July 3 – doesn't mention Texas by name. But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lobbied hard for the line item's inclusion, and the state's Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn fought for the reimbursement. "Under Operation Lone Star, Texas allocated more than $11 billion of Texas taxpayer money for border security, and earlier this year I requested Congress reimburse Texas for these costs in full," Abbott said in a May statement, after an initial version of the bill passed in the House of Representatives. The new "State Border Border Security Reinforcement Fund" earmarks $10 billion for grants to states that paid for border barriers or other security measures beginning Jan. 20, 2021 – President Joe Biden's inauguration day. Notably, during the Biden administration, no other state spent more than Texas on border security measures. Under Operation Lone Star, the state deployed thousands of Texas National Guard troops to the border, placed controversial buoy barriers in the Rio Grande and paid to bus more than 100,000 migrants to Democrat-led cities around the country. Abbott was one of Biden's leading critics on the border during a period when the Border Patrol was registering more than 2 million migrant encounters a year – many of them lawful asylum-seekers. The "reinforcement" provision "just says 'states can apply.' But what states incurred expenses? Texas and Arizona," said Adam Isacson, director of defense oversight for the Washington Office on Latin America. Early during the Biden administration, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, sought to build a makeshift border barrier out of old shipping containers. But legal challenges forced his administration to remove the barrier, and his Democratic successor, Gov. Katie Hobbs, had previously asked the Biden administration to reimburse the state for border security funding totaling $513 million. The budget reconciliation bill includes an additional $3.5 billion under a fund whose acronym spells BIDEN: "Bridging Immigration-related Deficits Experienced Nationwide." That money can be disbursed to states that aid the federal government in its immigration crackdown. In an emailed response to questions, Abbott Press Secretary Andrew Mahaleris declined to say how much money Texas will apply for but told USA TODAY the governor "will continue to work closely with the Trump administration to secure the border. " This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Budget bill includes $10B for states that spent on border security
USA Today
05-07-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Budget bill includes $10B payday for states that spent on border security
Tucked into the budget reconciliation bill is a Texas-sized golden nugget: $13.5 billion that could pay back what the state spent on border security during the Biden administration. The bill – which passed Congress on July 3 – doesn't mention Texas by name. But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lobbied hard for the line item's inclusion, and the state's Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn fought for the reimbursement. "Under Operation Lone Star, Texas allocated more than $11 billion of Texas taxpayer money for border security, and earlier this year I requested Congress reimburse Texas for these costs in full," Abbott said in a May statement, after an initial version of the bill passed in the House of Representatives. The new "State Border Border Security Reinforcement Fund" earmarks $10 billion for grants to states that paid for border barriers or other security measures beginning Jan. 20, 2021 – President Joe Biden's inauguration day. Notably, during the Biden administration, no other state spent more than Texas on border security measures. Under Operation Lone Star, the state deployed thousands of Texas National Guard troops to the border, placed controversial buoy barriers in the Rio Grande and paid to bus more than 100,000 migrants to Democrat-led cities around the country. Abbott was one of Biden's leading critics on the border during a period when the Border Patrol was registering more than 2 million migrant encounters a year – many of them lawful asylum-seekers. The "reinforcement" provision "just says 'states can apply.' But what states incurred expenses? Texas and Arizona," said Adam Isacson, director of defense oversight for the Washington Office on Latin America. Early during the Biden administration, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, sought to build a makeshift border barrier out of old shipping containers. But legal challenges forced his administration to remove the barrier, and his Democratic successor, Gov. Katie Hobbs, had previously asked the Biden administration to reimburse the state for border security funding totaling $513 million. The budget reconciliation bill includes an additional $3.5 billion under a fund whose acronym spells BIDEN: "Bridging Immigration-related Deficits Experienced Nationwide." That money can be disbursed to states that aid the federal government in its immigration crackdown. In an emailed response to questions, Abbott Press Secretary Andrew Mahaleris declined to say how much money Texas will apply for but told USA TODAY the governor "will continue to work closely with the Trump administration to secure the border. "
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas' border wall plan appears to be facing a sad, silent death
Texas appears to have quietly stopped funding its plans to construct its own border wall with Mexico, which could mark the end of an embarrassing boondoggle designed to bolster one of President Donald Trump's early campaign slogans. For years, conservatives have framed the idea of a border wall as essential to immigration enforcement, despite a chorus of critics denouncing it as costly and ineffective. And Texas Republicans' decision to defund the project seems like a tacit acknowledgment of that reality. The Texas Tribune was first to report that a new state budget signed into law earlier this month includes no money for the wall, which was envisioned as covering more than 800 miles. But only a fraction of that was ever completed — at great cost to taxpayers. According to the Tribune: Four years after Gov. Greg Abbott announced Texas would be the first state to build its own border wall, lawmakers have quietly stopped funding the project, leaving only scattered segments covering a small fraction of the border. That decision, made in the waning hours of this year's legislative session, leaves the future of the state wall unclear. Just 8% of the 805 miles the state identified for construction is complete, which has cost taxpayers more than $3 billion to date. The Texas Tribune reported last year that the wall is full of gaps that migrants and smugglers can easily walk around and mostly concentrated on sprawling ranches in rural areas, where illegal border crossings are less likely to occur. Some Texas Republicans seem intent on spinning this retreat from their ill-conceived idea as a victory of sorts, or at least downplaying it as a sign of GOP backtracking. A spokesperson for Gov. Greg Abbott told the Tribune that the Trump administration's immigration crackdown has allowed the state to adjust its enforcement plans. And state Sen. Joan Huffman, the state's lead budget writer, told the outlet that rather than paying for the wall, the budget authorizes money for state entities that are aiding Abbott's immigration crusade: a controversial project known as Operation Lone Star, which also has been denounced as a tremendous waste of time and money. The idea of a 'big, beautiful wall' between the U.S. and Mexico has become deeply ingrained in the MAGA movement — Trump's followers have used chants and costumes to celebrate it. And yet, the idea appears dead as a doornail in Texas, a state virtually under total Republican control. And at this point, the scattered remains of the state's border wall seem like little more than shrines to the president's ignorant policies. This article was originally published on
