Report disputes Texas' claim that its 'Lone Star Operation' has deterred migrant crossings

Texas authorities have recently claimed that its "Lone Star Operation," aimed at deterring migration into the state, have led to an almost 90% decline from its peak.

Mike Banks, Special Advisor on Border Matters under Gov. Greg Abbott said that the concrete figure is 87% and that, as a result, the federal government has opted to temporarily move agents from the state's ports of entry to others in Arizona, California and New Mexico.

The state has resorted to several methods to that end, including erecting concertina wire across the border, floating buoys in the Rio Grande and bussing migrants to Democratic-led cities up north.

However, a recent report by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) is disputing the state's claim, saying that even though it is true that figures have gone down, they are part of a broader, national trend and not a result of its specific policies.

The report analyzed Customs and Border Protection (CBP) figures to reach its conclusions. "All states are seeing declining Border Patrol apprehensions, and Texas's rate of decline is typical, despite the state government's multi-billion-dollar 'Operation Lone Star' border crackdown."

A look at "apprehensions by state reveals that Texas has not experienced a steeper migration decline than Arizona, where the Democratic governor has not pursued similar hard-line measures," the report adds.

To illustrate this, it provides a chart showing that crossings have decreased by 84% in Arizona between December and July, compared to 86% in Texas. California has seen a 55% decrease while New Mexico, which borders with Texas, saw a 8% increase.

Looking at figures between May and July, Arizona has seen the steepest decrease, with 64%. This compares to 52% for California, 50% for Texas and 19% for New Mexico.

In concrete numbers, Texas is the state that has seen the most apprehensions, with almost 17,000, over 100,000 fewer than in December of last year. In Arizona arrests dropped from over 87,000 to less than 14,000 in the same period.

Migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border have reached their lowest levels since President Biden took office. The agency reported 56,408 migrant encounters between ports of entry in July, an 80 percent drop from last December.