Austin, TX

Texas border deployment going through 'realignment': officials

Published

4 months ago

September 20, 2024

Texas border deployment going through 'realignment': officials

Hearing held on Texas/Mexico border

Illegal border crossings in South Texas are down and the state is in the process of making some adjustments to Operation Lone Star. The revamping was discussed during a Senate hearing at the state capitol.

AUSTIN, Texas – Illegal border crossings in south Texas are down, and the state is in the process of making some adjustments to Operation Lone Star.

Details about the revamping came out Thursday during a hearing before members of the State Senate Committee on Border Security. The committee is gathering information to prepare for the regular session, which starts in January.

Officials with the State National Guard revealed that two of the four operation base camps, one in Laredo and one north of Eagle Pass, will be shut down. A base camp near Del Rio is also being downsized.

The change is because of the new and larger forward base camp that opened in Eagle Pass earlier this year. Morale among guard members reportedly has improved after mission assignments got better focus and facility upgrades were made by the state.

Major Gen. Thomas Suelzer, the Adjutant General for the State of Texas, told the committee that 18 different states have sent National Guard members to Texas to help with Operation Lone Star.

“What we say to these states is, we will obviously accept all the help we can get. We will ask, we have these types of missions. Is there any type of mission you wouldn’t want to do, or you would like to do? Would you like to send an engineering set of personnel to do engineering and put up a barrier, or do you want to do security points? And then we go through kind of a negotiation process that goes through a state process that would occur during any state declared emergency and solidify that and then they come out. So, we’ve had states that have come out, agreed to come for a whole year, some that have agreed to come for just a few months,” said Suelzer.

MORE IMMIGRATION NEWS

The committee was also told that deployments of state troopers have also been reduced to seven-day rotations. Recent trooper academy graduations are helping to address a staffing shortage, which is now at 540 vacancies, and that has reduced longer deployments.

However, DPS Director Steve McCraw and others who testified said more resources are needed to address the stress related to the continued deployments.

“There was a time one of our operations, we called it Operation Strong Safety. And many members called it Operation Imminent Divorce. And that because it was a longer-term deployment at the time, and we had to send larger numbers, and we didn’t have the benefit of being able to enhance trooper positions in the area of operation. So, there’s no question that it’s very difficult to be, you know, all places at all times and maintain the level of intensity that need to be in and still have family life and be able to be, you know, so we can sustain our workforce,” said McCraw.

Operation Strong Safety took place in 2014 during a surge in migrants. The last time there was a force reduction on the border was back in 2022. The committee was told a larger scale back of personnel on the border is not advised because there is still the threat of another surge in illegal crossings and El Paso remains a hot zone, especially for a dangerous gang known as TDA.

“They’re still probing. They are still cutting fences. They are still trying to create the type of gaps we saw before, and rush hundreds in, and take that combative, riotous type of stance that they’ve done before. So, they have not gone away,” warned McCraw.

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During the hearing, McCraw noted there was a 56,000% increase in the number of Venezuelans apprehended in Texas between 2000 and 2023. According to McCraw, since February 2021, there have been over 93,000 arrests in Texas of individuals classified as criminal migrants. Several cases involve things like drunk driving, but 4,100 cases involved felonies like sexual assault and murder. Since 2021, about $11 billion has been allocated to Operation Lone Star.

Immigration advocates who testified Thursday called it a wasteful program and a boondoggle. Jaime Puente, director of Economic Opportunity, claimed Operation Lone Star has not significantly affected the number of migrants apprehended compared to other border states like Arizona.

“State leadership continues to establish policy based on dehumanizing rhetoric and unverified claims of success. Texans deserve policies that harness the productive power of people seeking refuge and asylum in the United States, not the wasteful, destructive policies of Governor Abbott’s Operation Lone Star,” said Puente.

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Austin, TX

How many immigrants have been arrested? See which Texas cities had ICE raids this weekend

Published

7 hours ago

January 27, 2025

Press Room

How many immigrants have been arrested? See which Texas cities had ICE raids this weekend

Within a week of Donald Trump’s second term as president, several raids were conducted by ICE agents throughout Texas as well as the rest of the U.S. Upon entering office last Monday, Trump delivered on a campaign promise and issued an executive order to “protect the American people against invasion.” His administration has said the aggressive deportation efforts would prioritize “violent offenders.”

The Drug Enforcement Agency, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisted with the Texas operations.

An ICE spokesperson confirmed the raids in North Texas in an emailed statement to Texas Public Radio:

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement along with our federal law enforcement partners began conducting enhanced targeted operations today in North Texas and the state of Oklahoma to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities.“

How many undocumented immigrants have been arrested?

Beginning Thursday, Jan. 23, ICE has reported single-day U.S. statistics for the number of individuals arrested and charged with a crime as well as those detained.

Jan. 23: 538 arrests, 373 detainers lodged
Jan. 24: 593 arrests, 449 detainers lodged
Jan. 25: 286 arrests, 421 detainers lodged
Jan. 26: 956 arrests, 554 detainers lodged

Similar operations occurred in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey and New York, according to various news reports.

It is unclear how many of these arrests and detainments occurred in Texas. However, several cities across the Lone Star State saw these “enhanced targeted operations” on Sunday.

Where did the ICE raids happen in Texas?

Officials have yet to confirm how many undocumented immigrants were apprehended in Texas Sunday. However, local news outlets suggest the following areas have been subjected to the raids:

How many undocumented immigrants are in Texas?

About 1.6 million unauthorized immigrants reside in Texas, according to July 2024 data in a Pew Research Center report.

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Austin, TX

ICE conducts 'targeted enforcement' in Austin over weekend

Published

19 hours ago

January 27, 2025

Press Room

ICE conducts 'targeted enforcement' in Austin over weekend

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Drug Enforcement Administration conducted “targeted enforcement actions” in Austin and other cities on Sunday, the DEA Houston division confirmed.

“The DEA Houston division assisted DHS with their targeted enforcement actions. We’ve assisted in several cities to include Austin,” said DEA spokesperson Sally Sparks in a text message to KUT News.

The DEA Houston division operates in a large swath of Texas, all the way from the southern border to as far north as Waco.

The division posted photos associated with the operations on X, formerly known as Twitter, Sunday.

According to ICE, enforcement operations involve “the identification, arrest, detention and removal of aliens who are subject to removal or are unlawfully present in the United States.” KUT News has reached out to Homeland Securities Investigations for further details about Sunday’s operations.

The news of ICE’s activities in Austin comes just over a week after Trump administration “border czar” Tom Homan said ICE would begin conducting illegal immigration enforcement raids. Homan said those raids would begin Tuesday, Jan. 21, and identified Chicago as an early target in an interview with Fox News.

“We’re going to take the handcuffs off ICE and let them go arrest criminal aliens. That’s what’s gonna happen,” Homan said.

ICE confirmed to the Texas Newsroom that operations are also underway in North Texas, where dozens of individuals were arrested over the weekend.

KXAN was first to report the news of ICE’s operations in Austin.

This is a developing story.

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Austin, TX

Yellow Jackets Fall to No. 1 Texas in Championship Match

Published

1 day ago

January 26, 2025

Press Room

Yellow Jackets Fall to No. 1 Texas in Championship Match

AUSTIN, Texas – The Yellow Jackets faced the number one team in college tennis on Sunday but fell 0-4 to Texas in the championship match of the ITA Kickoff Weekend at the Austin Regional.

In doubles action, Texas jumped to a quick 1-0 lead on the day, claiming doubles courts one and three. The duo of Sebastian Eriksson and Jonah Braswell got a 6-3 over the Tech pairing of Gabriele Brancatelli and Robert Bauer, before the No. 7 ranked doubles team of Lucas Brown and Timo Legout got a 6-4 win over No. 19 Krish Arora and Christophe Clement.

In singles action, the Yellow Jackets were unable to stop the Longhorns’ momentum, eventually dropping three singles matches, and falling 0-4 in the championship match.

No. 90 ranked Nate Bonetto faced Legout, who is ranked No. 3, but fell 1-6, 1-6, putting Texas up 2-0.

Branctelli took on No. 2 Sebastian Gorzny, but dropped his match 3-6, 2-6.

Sebastian Eriksson of Texas closed out the win for the Longhorns, defeating Georgia Tech’s Gianluca Carlini 6-1, 6-3.

Tech will be back in action Thursday, Jan. 30, as they welcome Georgia State to the Ken Byers Tennis Complex for a match at 4 p.m.

#1 Texas 4, Georgia Tech 0
Singles

#3 Timo Legout (TEX) def. #90 Nate Bonetto (GT) 6-1, 6-1
#2 Sebastian Gorzny (TEX) def. Gabriele Brancatelli (GT) 6-3, 6-2
Pierre-Yves Bailly (TEX) vs. Christophe Clement (GT) 6-4, 4-0, unfinished
#20 Jonah Braswell (TEX) vs. Krish Arora (GT) 7-5, 1-0, unfinished
Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) def. Gianluca Carlini (GT) 6-1, 6-3
#116 Lucas Brown (TEX) vs. Richard Biagiotti (GT) 6-3, 2-3, unfinished

Doubles

#7 Lucas Brown/Timo Legout (TEX) def. #19 Krish Arora/Christophe Clement (GT) 6-4
Sebastian Gorzny/Pierre-Yves Bailly (TEX) vs. #44 Nate Bonetto/Gianluca Carlini (GT) 6-5, unfinished
Sebastian Eriksson/Jonah Braswell (TEX) def. Gabriele Brancatelli/Robert Bauer (GT) 6-3

Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.

For the latest information on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, follow us on X (@GT_MTEN), Instagram (GT_MTEN), Facebook (Georgia Tech Men’s Tennis) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com

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