Can the Texas Border Strategy Achieve Its Aims? [Video]

This issue brief is based on a conversation between R. Gil Kerlikowske, former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Tony Payan, director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico. It summarizes the discussion and includes a transcript of the conversation and question-and-answer session.

For several years, the Texas state government — through the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Texas Military Department (TMD), under the command of Gov. Greg Abbott — have implemented a program called Operation Lone Star (OLS), aimed at preventing unauthorized migration and illegal drug trade across the U.S. border with Mexico. Texas’ state government has invested over $10 billion in OLS through January 2024. Under this strategy OLS has:

• Deployed as many as 10,000 National Guard members, including military equipment such as armored personnel carriers.
• Positioned DPS agents at the border and state highways and roads to detain individuals suspected of not having authorization to be in the U.S.
• Declared …