(San Antonio, Texas) —The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) continues to condemn and call on Operation Lone Star (OLS), Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s illegal and hateful scheme using billions in state resources targeting migrants and people of color, to be dismantled immediately.
“Since OLS went into effect in March 2021, Abbott has endangered all Texans with his atrocious and wasteful border policy in the name of ‘public safety.’ Texas is the epicenter for state and federal immigration enforcement and has set the playbook for Trump’s mass deportation agenda,” said Senior Policy Attorney & Strategist Priscilla Olivarez. “For over four years, the state of Texas through Operation Lone Star has violated the civil and human rights of thousands of people seeking safety in our country and has criminalized Texas residents and nonprofits for responding humanely to help immigrants in need. We can have a humane response to immigration. Operation Lone Star is not the answer.”
The ILRC has sounded the alarm continually about OLS since its inception and warns that if this scheme remains unchecked, more harm will be reaped on the state and beyond. The ILRC’s A Report From the Texas Border outlines what Texas lawmakers should be funding instead of OLS. Even more troubling, the OLS playbook for hate has been copied by lawmakers in other states, who have introduced similar bills to replicate OLS. The ILRC has issued several resources on the dangers of OLS and its copycats:
- Operation Lone Star: The Cost of Funding Hate
- The Untenable Costs of Operation Lone Star
- Criminalizing Immigration: The Influence of SB 4, Texas's Regressive State Deportation Law
- Driver Prosecutions, Immigrants, and "Smuggling" in Texas
The ILRC continues to call on Texas officials to stop the hateful OLS program and address the needs of all Texans, including:
- Invest the $11 billion and counting in taxpayer dollars spent on OLS into the Texas communities who need basic public services and infrastructure that work. Urgent community needs include improvements to water infrastructure, improvements in road paving and street lighting, improvements to the availability of public transit, updating and maintaining healthcare facilities and ensuring broad access to them, and the delivery of timely ambulance services, among others.
- Respond to the needs of local communities regardless of whether these communities have declared border emergencies, or, if local law enforcement refuse to be part of OLS.
- Reimburse state agencies from which funding was diverted to support OLS, such as the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and Texas Health and Human Services.
- Pay reparations to victims of high-speed vehicle pursuits under OLS, and to victims of property damage caused by other OLS operations.
“Four years and $11 billion later, Texas has become the blueprint for Trump’s mass deportation agenda,” Olivarez said. “Now, Texas lawmakers are pushing to pour $6.5 billion into OLS –money that could instead fund healthcare, education and other essential needs for Texans. We cannot allow our state to sacrifice our communities’ well-being to fuel hate and racism. The ILRC alongside many partners will continue to fight to defeat OLS and similar policies, to protect our communities in Texas and beyond.”
To learn more and get involved in ongoing advocacy efforts, please visit https://www.endlonestar.com/
###
The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) is a national nonprofit that works with immigrants, community organizations, legal professionals, and policy makers to build a democratic society that values diversity and the rights of all people. Through community education programs, legal training & technical assistance, and policy development & advocacy, the ILRC works to protect and defend the fundamental rights of immigrant families and communities. Follow us at www.ilrc.org, and @the_ILRC on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and TikTok. Also follow us on Bluesky @the-ilrc.bsky.social, and on Facebook.