Texas leads fight against growing national fentanyl crisis

AUSTIN - Governor Greg Abbott, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), and the Texas National Guard are continuing to work together to secure the border; stop the smuggling of drugs, weapons, and people into Texas; and prevent, detect, and interdict transnational criminal behavior between ports of entry.

Since the launch of Operation Lone Star, the multi-agency effort has led to over 328,000 migrant apprehensions and more than 22,100 criminal arrests, with more than 19,600 felony charges reported. In the fight against fentanyl, DPS has seized over 353 million lethal doses of fentanyl during this border mission.

Texas has also bused almost 8,400 migrants to our nation’s capital since April, over 4,000 migrants to New York City since August 5, more than 1,300 migrants to Chicago since August 31, and more than 210 migrants to Philadelphia since November 15.

Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps left by the Biden Administration’s refusal to secure the border. Every individual who is apprehended or arrested and every ounce of drugs seized would have otherwise made their way into communities across Texas and the nation due to President Biden’s open border policies.

On Thursday, Governor Abbott toured the University of Houston fentanyl vaccine lab to highlight the groundbreaking research that has the potential to save millions of innocent lives from fentanyl poisonings and addiction. With President Biden’s open border policies inviting a flood of illegal drugs across the border, Texas continues leading the fight against deadly fentanyl.

“This incredible, groundbreaking new therapy has the potential to revolutionize how we combat fentanyl deaths in our communities and end the afflictions of addiction that burden so many innocent Texans and Americans across the country,” said Governor Abbott.

During a press conference following the tour, Governor Abbott detailed the decisive actions taken by the State of Texas to combat the growing national fentanyl crisis, including designating Mexican drug cartels as a terrorist organizations, signing legislation into law that makes it a felony to make or distribute fentanyl, and launching the “One Pill Kills” campaign to raise awareness of this deadly drug across the state.

The Texas National Guard deployed 10 M113 armored personnel carriers to the Texas-Mexico border to fight back against record-breaking illegal immigration and transnational criminal activity. The personnel carriers are being trucked to security points along the border to enhance protection amid increasing cartel-driven criminal activity. The lifting of Title 42 later this month could lead to a massive influx of illegal immigrants, allowing criminals to further exploit gaps where federal authorities are inundated with migrant processing.

Between October 1, 2021 and November 8, 2022, Texas National Guard service members experienced more than 260 suspicious or violent events, including gunfire across the border, physical assaults, drone activity, surveillance, threats of violence to the task force, and threats of violence to individuals.

Last month, Governor Abbott ordered DPS and Texas Military Department leadership to use every available strategy and tool to combat the unprecedented border crisis.

DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez joined Fox News to discuss the potential ramifications of ending Title 42 on future border security efforts. With the end of the policy looming later this month, DPS is expecting to see double or even triple the current numbers of illegal crossings and the continued smuggling of drugs across the border.

“With Title 42 in place, that’s really the only policy we have to sustain the situation we’re seeing on the border, but right now that’s hanging by a thread,” said Lt. Olivarez. “We’re going to have to deploy more state resources now to fill in those gaps amid the surge of illegal immigrants we’re expecting. The cartels and the criminals know now that with Title 42 gone, that’s just more money in their pockets because they’re going to take full advantage of the situation, exploit that, and profit off these illegal immigrants.”