(NewsNation) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star has led to the apprehension of more than 488,500 illegal immigrants at the southern border since its launch in 2021, according to new numbers he released. It has also led to more than 37,300 criminal arrests.
In addition to the migrant apprehensions, Texas law enforcement has seized more than 450 million doses of fentanyl, Abbott posted on social media Sunday.
“Texas is holding the line,” he wrote.
The Texas governor has taken steps to curb illegal migration into his state, including installing a 1,000-foot-long string of 4-foot-wide orange spherical buoys in the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas.
However, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling ordering Texas to remove the series of buoys, finding the state violated laws governing navigable waterways by placing the barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The effort was in response to the record number of migrants crossing the southern border.
In the 2022 fiscal year, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol encountered over 2.2 million migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border — a significant increase from the 1.9 million encountered the previous year.
The border crisis has since become a national issue for many Americans, especially since Abbott has been bussing thousands of migrants to Democratic cities across the country. Now, those U.S. cities in the north face dueling crises of growing migrant and homeless populations as temperatures begin to drop.
President Joe Biden said Sunday that he was willing to make “significant compromises on the border” as Republicans continued to block wartime aid in Congress.
Republicans say the record numbers of migrants crossing the southern border pose a security threat because authorities cannot adequately screen all the migrants and that those who enter the United States are straining the country’s resources. GOP lawmakers also say they cannot justify to their constituents sending billions of dollars to other countries, even in a time of war, while failing to address the border at home.
The U.S.-Mexico border region is perilous, with migrants frequently experiencing violence, extortion and other forms of abuse during their journeys, many of them arriving in extreme hardship, having fled violence, poverty and persecution in their home countries.
A controversial immigration bill aiming to address illegal entry into the state has been passed to the governor’s office, where Abbott is expected to sign it.
Texas Senate Bill 4, if enacted, would grant all police officers across the entire state of Texas the authority to arrest migrants who have entered the country illegally. The legislature passed it and it’s awaiting Abbott’s signature.
Arizona’s 2010 immigration legislation required law enforcement officers to inquire about suspects’ immigration status if they believed they were in the U.S. illegally.
Under the bill, illegal entry would be treated as a misdemeanor offense. Those apprehended would be given the option to either return to the country at a lawful port of entry or face prosecution, leading to potential conviction and subsequent deportation.
Mexico’s government criticized the measure, warning it would result in family separations and racial profiling.
Similar bills are pending in other states, including Florida, Louisiana and North Carolina.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.