Under Operation Lone Star, the Texas Department of Public Safety and National Guard Units deployed a multi-layer strategy to deter and turn back migrants attempting to cross the border from Mexico. That strategy includes the construction of physical barriers like border walls, fencing., razor wire, and rail containers, in addition to deploying tactical response units and marine operators.
In June 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced plans in an interview with Breitbart Texas to begin the construction of physical border barriers along busy crossing sectors along the Rio Grande border with Mexico. Since that time, the State of Texas has constructed miles of border walls, fencing, concertina wire, and container car barricades to deter migrants from crossing in these areas.
“The influx across the border is out of control, and the Biden Administration has shown that is not going to step up and do its job,” Governor Abbott told Breitbart Texas shortly before the public announcement on June 10, 2021. “And amidst reports of even more people coming in across the border, we know we have to step up and do more.”
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In addition to the physical barriers, Governor Abbott ordered the deployment of additional Texas Military Department forces and Department of Public Safety troopers to help secure the border and arrest migrants for violations of state laws after they cross the border. As the Texas border crisis grew in numbers of migrant crossings in advance of the end of Title 42 this year, the governor ordered additional troops to the border region.
Texas Department of Public Safety
Eventually, DPS officials added a Tactical Marine Unit with shallow-water boats to the Eagle Pass area of operations to combat the large numbers of migrant crossings. In a dramatic video, Marine Unit troopers isolated and arrested a suspected human smuggler in the middle of the Rio Grande after observing him guiding migrants across the river, Breitbart Texas reported.
Another suspected smuggler was arrested in the river a few days earlier.
This week, Governor Abbott ordered the installation of the first-ever floating border barrier near Eagle Pass adding yet another layer to the border protection plan, Breitbart Texas reported.
In addition to deterring the large numbers of migrant crossings in the area, Olivarez says the new floating barriers will save lives. The buoys are being placed in an area with a high volume of illegal border crossings where several migrants drowned in recent weeks.
Texas Department of Public Safety
The multi-layer defense strategy extends inland as Texas DPS troopers engage with human smugglers on highways nearly 100 miles from the border. In one incident in June, troopers engaged in a pursuit that reached speeds of up to 115 miles per hour. In another, the pursuit ended in a roll-over crash that left the alleged smuggler and migrants injured.
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.