CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Two years ago this month, Gov. Greg Abbott launched Operation Lone Star and recently, he reiterated his commitment to the program.
It uses state troopers and national guard members to try and boost border security separately from what the federal government’s border patrol.
Although both work to curb illegal immigration, human trafficking and drug smuggling along the border shared by Texas and Mexico, some still wonder whether it’s worth the cost.
In two years’ time, Operation Lone Star has racked up a number of wins – especially when it comes to fentanyl drug busts.
Abbott said more than 25,000 arrests have been made, and that includes people wanted for murder.
He also said that Texas has spent $4.5 billion on Operation Lone Star and that he plans to spend that same amount to keep it going.
That’s $9 billion, and political analyst Jason Whitely said that some wonder whether that number is just too big.
“Patrolling the border remains a federal issue,” he said. “The state is playing backup, but still – at what cost? That’s what so many people are asking.”
Less than two weeks ago, Sen. John Cornyn led a delegation of about a dozen members of congress – republican and democrat -- to Mexico, where they spent four hours meeting with the president of the country and his cabinet – something nearly unheard of.
While there, they told the Mexican president that the status quo is unacceptable, and that he needs to do more to stop the flow of migrants north through his country.
Of course, at the end of the day, Texas and Mexico share economies that are intertwined, and as Cornyn has said before, "we’re like an old married couple: we can’t get a divorce, so we gotta get along.”