“It's a road map for any authoritarian ruler of any state to co-opt the criminal legal system and target it at perceived political enemies.”
When Governor Greg Abbott announced the launch of Operation Lone Star in March of last year, it seemed to be just the latest in a long string of state-sanctioned border security theatrics. First, in 2005, there was former Governor Rick Perry’s “Operation Linebacker,” which sought to stop Al Qaeda terrorists and other criminals from crossing into Texas. Linebacker was then followed, consecutively, by Rio Grande, Wrangler, Border Star, Drawbridge, Strong Safety, and Strong Safety II.
Abbott’s actions have prompted a significant backlash. Amanda Woog, head of the criminal justice advocacy group Texas Fair Defense Project, called the governor’s scheme “a road map for any authoritarian ruler of any state to co-opt the criminal legal system and target it at perceived political enemies.
Still, the governor and his law enforcement deputies have deemed Operation Lone Star an unmitigated success, boasting of more than 13,000 criminal arrests , thousands of pounds of drug seizures, and more than 200,000 migrants that state troopers and guards have referred to U.S. Border Patrol. by the Texas Tribune, Marshall Project, and ProPublica found, those claims of success are based on state law enforcement juking the stats.
When President Biden announced in April his administration’s plan to finally revoke Title 42—the Trump executive order that slammed the door on asylum-seekers in the name of COVID-19—Republicans cried out of an impending “invasion” of migrants.
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