Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa is expected to end or sharply scale back Operation Lone Star, the border security program outgoing Gov. Greg Abbott built on recurring emergency powers. The program has used state money and personnel to support enforcement along the Texas-Mexico border. Hinojosa, a Democrat and former state representative from Austin, voted against funding the operation and called it a “waste of taxpayer dollars.” She has said she would rather use the money for “community policing.”
Houston Mayor John Whitmire and Austin Mayor Kirk Watson have ordered their city police departments to stop working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on traffic stops. Under Abbott, the cities had been required to cooperate with ICE in that setting.
New migrant caravans have launched in Mexico, and some migrants have said they expect the border to reopen after Democrats took control of Congress. The Department of Homeland Security responded on X that there is “absolutely ZERO chance” the migrants will be allowed into the United States.
Ammon Blair, an analyst with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, said Operation Lone Star added personnel and equipment to border enforcement, including horse patrol, air support, brush crews, and other units. “Caravans are already starting to come up,” Blair said. “Their whole goal is to inundate Border Patrol agents, regardless of the funding, and regardless of the manpower.”
