Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott took to social media to share U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics that indicate his Operation Lone Star "is working" to help decrease the number of illegal migrant crossings into Texas.
Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in 2021 to help deal with the migrant crisis at the southern border and deny Mexican cartels and other smugglers the ability to move drugs and people into Texas. It is a joint operation between the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Military Department.
The governor Tuesday shared a Media Research Center story that cited CBP data showing how the number of illegal migrants encountered in Texas dropped 28% during the first five months (October to February) of the 2024 fiscal year, while blue states California and Arizona saw increases of 35% and 52%, respectively.
"Operation Lone Star is working. Look at the graph in this story," Abbott posted on X, with the MRCTV story.
"Illegal crossings are going down in TX while at the same time they are skyrocketing in CA & AZ.
"It's b/c of the border wall, razor wire barriers, the National Guard & arrests by DPS."
CBP data showed all five of Texas' border control regions saw declines between October and February, with the highest being at Big Bend (65% decrease) and El Paso (47%), Newsweek reported.
Texas regions Laredo (38%), Rio Grande Valley (23%), and Del Rio (6%) also reported decreases in migrant encounters.
Meanwhile, Arizona's Tucson region saw a 167% increase, and California's San Diego region recorded 76% increase.
"Because Greg Abbott is now working to secure the border in Texas, we're seeing an influx of people pouring across our border even more so than we had in previous months," Arizona Republican Kari Lake told Newsweek in January. "The Tucson sector is being overrun with people from 168 different countries."
Abbott's post appeared a day before a U.S. appeals court kept on hold a Texas law that would let state authorities arrest and prosecute people suspected of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
President Joe Biden's administration has argued that statute intrudes on the authority of the federal government.
In January, the Supreme Court ruled federal agents could remove razor wire placed along the southern border.