Texas governor says goal of Operation Lone Star is 'reducing illegal immigration to zero percent'

Texas governor Greg Abbott laid out the ins-and-outs of Operation Lone Star, his administration's plan aimed at clamping down on unlawful immigration. Among the biggest takeaways from an interview with NewsNation was his intention to install more buoy barriers along the state's border with Mexico, expanding the 1,000-foot-long barrier of buoys in the waters between Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras.

But another note-worthy passage of the interview occurred when the governor stated his goal to reduce the number of illegal entries to Texas to zero. He warned that even if his government is successful, unlawful immigration will continue, and suggested they cooperate in that direction.

"Let's assume Texas does succeed in reducing illegal immigration to zero percent into our state, which is our goal. All those terrorists, all those murderers, all those rapists, they're just going to go through New Mexico and Arizona and California."

Abbott outlined ongoing measures under Operation Lone Star to achieve his goals, including not only the aforementioned buoys, but the use of buses to transport migrants to sanctuary cities (which has stopped recently due to a lack of migrants) and installation of razor wire barriers.

In another passage of the interview, Abbott expressed readiness to resume busing migrants to northern cities if crossings increase, though he noted that a decline in crossings has temporarily reduced the need for such measures. He did however refuse to credit the Biden administration's recent crackdown for said decline, claiming that border crossings began to slow before Biden's executive order which limited asylum requests:

"That was after Texas began our accelerated operations to deny illegal entry, using the guard, using the razor wire, using the pepper ball."

Despite his efforts, Abbott stated that more needs to be done at the federal level, suggesting that only a new president can ensure the security of the U.S. border.

According to a local official, figures have dropped by 87% compared to its peak. Mike Banks, Special Advisor on Border Matters under Gov. Greg Abbott said that, as the number of encounters has slowed down, the federal government has opted to temporarily move agents out of Texas to other ports of entry in Arizona, California and New Mexico.