Hundreds of National Guardsmen have spent the past three years rotating through a deployment in Texas. They’ve traded Midwestern green grass, highways and sprawling crop fields for dusty roads, a dry riverbed and close-ups of concertina wire thousands of miles away from their families.
Baking for hours in the withering heat, the troops from Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska share a mission under the banner of Operation Lone Star: Intercept immigrants arriving illegally and drugs crossing the U.S. border from Mexico.
“Political theater” is how immigration and border relations researcher Tony Payan describes the operation. He regularly travels both sides of the border interviewing activists, migrants and experts about immigration.
Unlawful migration has become a political flashpoint since Donald Trump began campaigning on the issue and arguing for a border wall in 2015. It continues to be a key element of GOP campaigns. According to a July poll from Gallup, about 55% of Americans support a decrease in immigration to the U.S.
Payan, director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said the troops tasked with maintaining these border patrols have become increasingly stressed as long stretches of inactivity and heat take their toll.
The Republican governors of Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska, along with Republican governors from other states, said the troops would be intercepting human smugglers and massive shipments of fentanyl. There were predictions of mass arrests, drug busts and the apprehension of suspects on the terrorist watchlist.
“The crisis at the Southern Border is fueling the fentanyl crisis here in our state,” said Missouri Gov. Mike Parson in a statement. “Missourians are dying; families are being ripped apart; communities are being destroyed, and Missouri children are falling victim.”
Records show that the sensational arrests and busts Midwest governors predicted have been few and far between. Meanwhile, state highway patrol officers from understaffed Midwestern departments are assisting with traffic stops miles from the border while National Guardsmen stare at sand, researchers and critics of Operation Lone Star told the Midwest Newsroom.
Announcing the operation, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the federal government was not doing enough to curtail unlawful entry and drug crimes.
“The crisis at our southern border continues to escalate because of Biden Administration policies that refuse to secure the border and invite illegal immigration,” Abbott said in a statement. “Texas supports legal immigration but will not be an accomplice to the open border policies that cause, rather than prevent, a humanitarian crisis in our state and endanger the lives of Texans.”
A lack of general oversight, accurate state and court data, and established goals for the project make it difficult to measure Operation Lone Star’s progress.
Based on his research, Payan has little doubt about it.
“I think [the actions under Operation Lone Star] have almost zero impact on the cycles of immigration, on the cycles of fentanyl, the amount of fentanyl that is crossing the border, and obviously, the issues of trade, which continues to grow between the two countries,” he said.
Abbott’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the operation. The offices of Parson, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds likewise did not respond to interview requests. They instead referred a reporter to existing press releases.
‘Every state is a border state’
In March 2021, Abbott launched Operation Lone Star by sending the Texas National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety to patrol sections of the border between legal entry points. Since then, 14 additional states — many of which sit thousands of miles from the Mexico border – have sent resources to support the Texas operation.
Abbott called on other states across the country to participate because, as the governors of Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska have all argued in separate press releases: “Every state is a border state.”
Since 2021, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska have together sent 519 National Guard service members and 143 state troopers and other law enforcement personnel to the border, according to information published by the states. The combined cost is approximately $7.1 million.
“As Governor, I have a responsibility to protect the safety and well-being of Iowans and protecting them at home starts with protecting the border,” Reynolds said in a 2023 statement.
Pillen echoed her sentiments after a visit to the border in 2024.
“Our federal government continues to ignore our border crisis,” he said. “The highest calling of government is public safety. We, as governors, must stand together to stop the constant influx of illegal drugs, weapons, and human trafficking.”
While Operation Lone Star targets the areas at the border between legal ports of entry, the Department of Homeland Security notes: “More than 90% of interdicted fentanyl is stopped at ports of entry where cartels attempt to smuggle it primarily in vehicles driven by U.S. citizens.”
According to an analysis by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the troops have mostly arrested people on trespassing and other low-level misdemeanor charges. The analysis found that a majority of those arrested for serious crimes such as human trafficking have been U.S. citizens.
State patrol officers sent to Texas have largely helped with traffic stops miles from the border.
Payan said Abbott seems to be taking a “combative, confrontational” approach to border security, not because Operation Lone Star is solving problems, but because the initiative resonates with many voters.
Recent polling shows that immigration is quickly becoming a key issue for many in the 2024 presidential election. About 60% of voters say immigration is very important to their vote – a 9-point increase from the 2020 presidential election and a 13-point increase from the 2022 congressional elections, according to Pew Research Center.
“It’s actually profiting the Republican Party to keep this issue of the border alive,” Payan said. “We saw it at play in the 2016 elections, we saw it in the 2020 elections, and I think we’re going to see it again in the 2024 elections. So this is an issue that I think the Republicans in particular and the governor of Texas are not necessarily interested in solving.”
Instead, Payan said GOP politicians are interested in what he calls “crisis maintenance” to keep the issue of immigration the headlines.
Scroll down for details of Operation Lone Star for each state
A human cost
With a combined $7.1 million spent to date, there appears to be no clear link between the aid provided by Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska and the operation’s success at blocking illegal entry to Texas and stymieing drug traffickers at the border.
In fact, according to Payan and the ACLU analysis, these resources seem to have gone toward supplementing the Texas Highway Patrol’s personnel numbers and assisting with traffic stops miles from the border.
Despite spending over $11.2 billion on the operation, Texas has failed in its mission to: “detect and repel illegal crossings, arrest human smugglers and cartel gang members, and stop the flow of deadly drugs like fentanyl into our nation,” the ACLU analysis found.
The state data shows the majority of the people arrested and prosecuted for drug offenses, human smuggling and weapons crimes are U.S. citizens — not undocumented immigrants. Additionally, the majority of those arrested were accused of low-level offenses like trespassing, according to the ACLU. Nearly 70% of court appearances stemming from the operation were for misdemeanor charges.
Discrepancies in court data compared to arrest data in the state make it difficult to monitor the operation’s progress. The ACLU report notes: “OLS data is inconsistent across state agencies.”
Sarah Cruz, a border and immigrant rights strategist with the ACLU of Texas, said it is unclear why discrepancies exist.
“We don’t know if it’s because one agency is tracking things differently [or] if they have different definitions of what constitutes an Operation Lone Star arrest,” Cruz said. “Our stance is maybe that some of the arrests aren’t going to magistration. That’s only us speculating that that could be the case. We really don’t have a definitive answer.”
It’s important to keep in mind, Cruz said, that there are no set targets or goals to measure the success of the operation. This could mean there is no end in sight for it.
“This has led to so many human rights violations, so many civil rights violations. This has put over-policing in border communities,” Cruz said. “There is nothing in Operation Lone Star anywhere in any of the agency documents or anything that we’ve been able to see that indicates this is what will be needed to sunset this program.”
One example of these alleged violations is the federal lawsuit against Abbott for deploying a string of buoys with serrated saw blades attached to them in the Rio Grande. Two dead bodies have been found in or around the barrier, according to a 2023 report by Texas Public Radio. One was a child from Honduras.
An analysis by Human Rights Watch found that high-speed chases by law enforcement working in counties under Operation Lone Star’s jurisdiction resulted in at least 74 deaths and 189 people injured from March 2021 to July 2023.
“Some of the people killed and injured by vehicle pursuits in OLS counties were not directly involved in the pursuits, and some of these were children,” according to Human Rights Watch. “Among the bystanders killed was a 7-year-old girl and among bystanders injured were five children of unknown age – all of them Texas residents.”
Additionally, 17 Texas National Guardsmen have died during the three years of the operation, according to reporting by the Army Times. At least four of these troops committed suicide, the Times reported.
The operation is funded through at least 2025, Cruz said. Three years in, it is having devastating impacts on border communities, she said.
“One of the findings in our report was that people of color, especially Latinx people, were disproportionately impacted by Operation Lone Star both in border communities and in counties that aren’t border communities,” Cruz said.
The increased number of traffic stops happening across the state can be especially harmful to mixed-status families, Cruz said: State agencies engaging in this way and the narratives espoused by Abbott bring over-policing to border communities and create a “hostile environment.”
In 2023, Cruz herself was driving in the Eagle Pass and Del Rio area when a Florida trooper paired with a Texas trooper pulled her over for failing to use a turn signal while merging.
She called it “an interesting fact-finding experience.”
While the Texas trooper returned to his vehicle to process Cruz’s identification, the Florida trooper stayed and chatted with her and a colleague.
“We asked questions. ‘How was it going for the Florida trooper?’ They said it was going great, that it felt like a vacation while they were here,” Cruz said. “Myself and my colleague were kind of shocked to hear that, but at the same time, it just lends at least to our perspective, that Operation Lone Star isn’t a necessary program and doesn’t really address any of the issues that are perceived at the border.”
About 13,600 of the arrests studied by the ACLU occurred in non border counties, Cruz said. Through Abbott’s disaster proclamations, the number of counties patrolled by Operation Lone Star continues to expand. As of September, it covers nearly 60 counties.
“These policies and these programs have been targeted towards addressing the border, but yet have started to trickle into more interior counties, interior cities where it’s a lot harder to figure out if a person entered the United States between ports of entry,” Cruz said.
The federal government controls enforcement near legal ports of entry, which is where most immigration occurs, Payan said. Because of this, there is little Abbott can do. That’s where the state patrols come in. Traffic stops allow Texas authorities to circumvent the federal government when it comes to border enforcement, Payan said.
“Now, obviously, that involves the governor thinking creatively about other ways in which he can annoy federal agencies,” Payan said. “One of them, for example, was using Texas jurisdictional powers over vehicle inspections, insurance, truck drivers, vehicle mechanical conditions, etc., on the trucks that were coming in bringing the trade bringing the products, the exports from Mexico into the United States, and stopping them as soon as they left federal property and the highways.”
The number of immigrants arriving at the border has decreased since January. Payan said it’s not because of Operation Lone Star. Rather, he said, what made a difference was the agreement the Biden administration made with Mexico to increase enforcement on the Mexican side of the border.
“Migrants who are coming in [are] turning themselves in,” Payan said. “They [are] not trying to sneak around the Border Patrol and cross between ports of entry. These are mostly asylum seekers who are coming at ports of entry. There’s nothing the Texas government can do against those individuals who are actually turning themselves in at ports of entry, which are in full control of the federal government.”
Fentanyl also tends to come across the border in small amounts, Payan said. People drive the drug into the country and carry it themselves, largely through ports of entry. Some traffickers have started using drones.
Abbott can deploy all the National Guard and DPS vehicles and all the razor wire and other obstacles between ports of entry that he wants to, but it won’t have an impact, he said.
“So these governors sending their guys have to think about where they’re going,” Payan said. “Separating those guys from their families, sending them to the desert in the middle of nowhere, essentially, to look at a very dry landscape, a dry river, with very little to do because fentanyl and migrants are not coming through there.”
Occasionally, these troops and law enforcement officials encounter immigrants they arrest for trespassing, Payan said, because only the federal government can lay charges related to unlawful entry.
Despite their efforts to seemingly prevent an influx of immigration into the region, these states have supported Operation Lone Star even as Texas has bused over 36,900 immigrants since 2022 to the Midwest by way of Chicago according to figures provided by the operation.
State by state: Operation Lone Star
Iowa
Gov. Kim Reynolds was an early backer of Operation Lone Star, sending Iowa’s first contingent of State Patrol personnel in 2021, three months after it launched.
“President Biden and his Administration have failed to protect the sovereignty of our borders and the safety of the American people,” Reynolds said in a news release. “What Texas faces is nothing short of an invasion with historic levels of illegal immigrants and illicit drugs entering our country.”
In 2021, Reynolds authorized the deployment of 28 State Patrol troopers. This was paid for using $300,000 in state funds.
In 2023, Reynolds deployed 109 National Guardsmen and 31 Iowa State Patrol personnel to the border using $1.93 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds.
While the state doesn’t appear to have sent any resources in 2022, it dispatched troops in 2024. In a news release, Reynolds announced a nearly monthlong deployment of 10 state patrol personnel at the end of March, and then two more deployments – one of 110 National Guard troops from April 1 to May 3 and another of five National Guard personnel from April 1 to Sept. 30.
The cost of the 2024 deployment has not yet been announced, but Reynolds said in the press release:
“All costs will be covered by federal funding allocated to Iowa from the American Rescue Plan. States are given flexibility in how this funding can be used provided it supports the provision of government services.”
The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, which was created to oversee the use of federal pandemic relief funds, did not respond to requests for comment on whether Operation Lone Star support is an appropriate use of the funding. ARPA funds were distributed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to provide emergency economic relief and public health aid to states.
According to the governor’s office, Iowa State Patrol troopers were directly involved in:
- 40 human smuggling cases
- 11 drug trafficking cases
- 14 narcotics arrests
- Six weapons arrests
- 42 vehicle pursuits
- 35 vehicle bailouts
- 11 stolen vehicle recoveries
- 491 instances of migrants in the U.S. illegally who were turned over to Customs and Border Patrol
The circumstances of these incidents are unclear because Iowa has not provided details.
A public records request from the Midwest Newsroom is pending. It is also unclear which year these statistics are from, or if they represent the state’s entire history of involvement with the operation. The governor’s office did not respond to multiple requests for clarification.
Neither the Iowa National Guard nor the Iowa State Patrol responded to requests for comment about their involvement in Operation Lone Star.
Missouri
Parson pledged state resources to Texas for the operation beginning in 2024, nearly three years after Operation Lone Star’s creation.
On Feb. 20, Parson signed an executive order authorizing the deployment of 200 Missouri National Guard service members and 22 Highway Patrol personnel, according to the governor’s office. The personnel were sent to the border despite the Highway Patrol being short-staffed by 132 troopers, lawmakers noted during state budget discussions.
This 2024 deployment was in addition to the 250 Missouri National Guardsmen who were already at the border since late 2023 on federal orders.
Through the executive order, Parson used the governor’s discretionary emergency response fund to pay for the deployment. In May, the General Assembly approved Parson’s supplemental budget request, allotting $2.2 million to repay discretionary funds. The governor later turned down nearly $6 million for the operation, arguing that the funding was unnecessary as he does not plan to extend the deployment.
“We don’t need that money,” he said, according to reporting by the Missouri Independent. “I think that was more of a political statement people were trying to make.”
The Missouri National Guard troops were deployed to the southern border in 30-day rotations between March and June. The Highway Patrol sent two deployments of 11 troopers, who volunteered for the mission, beginning in early March.
According to Parson’s office, from March 3 through April 15, troopers assisted Texas law enforcement with:
- 1,432 traffic stops
- 519 undocumented migrants
- 61 undocumented migrant turnbacks
- 69 impaired driver and drug arrests
- 105 “other law enforcement assists”
The Missouri National Guard assisted with 2,400 undocumented migrant surrenders and 1,000 turnbacks, Parson’s office said.
It is unclear how the Missouri troopers assisted Texas troopers with taking undocumented migrants into custody. The governor’s office declined an interview, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol did not respond to requests for comment. The Missouri National Guard also declined to comment.
Missouri National Guard soldiers were stationed near Eagle Pass and were “directly involved in reducing daily illegal-immigrant encounters from more than 4,000 to less than 300,” Parson said in a news release. “MONG soldiers also assisted in the capture of five individuals on the terrorist watch list.”
No future deployments have been announced, but in a statement, Parson said: “Should Governor Abbott and the State of Texas call on Missouri again, we are prepared to answer.”
Nebraska
In June 2021, then-Gov. Pete Ricketts authorized the deployment of 32 state troopers to assist with Operation Lone Star. In 2020, Nebraska already had troops in Texas at the border on a federal mission.
The 2021 deployment, three months after Abbott launched the operation, cost approximately $500,000, according to reporting by the Nebraska Examiner.
Following in Ricketts’ footsteps, current Gov. Jim Pillen deployed state troopers and Nebraska National Guard personnel to the border in 2023 and 2024.
Pillen sent 61 National Guard members and 10 state troopers in 2023. In April 2024, he deployed 34 National Guard members for three months, and 10 state patrol troopers deployed for two weeks.
The 2023 deployment of state troopers cost $128,000 and was paid for out of the patrol’s budget. The National Guard deployment cost $826,000 and was paid for by Nebraska’s Military Department, with Pillen promising to backfill this funding using pandemic relief funds, according to the Examiner.
The two 2024 deployments cost a combined $1.27 million, according to the Examiner. The state paid $1.2 million of that with interest accrued from pandemic relief funds. Taxpayers funded the remaining $71,675.
No additional deployments have been announced.
“All we ask is that the President enforce the laws of our country,” Pillen said in a February press release. “The urgency of the southern border has not changed. It continues to be a threat to national security, food security, and a growing humanitarian crisis. Nebraska will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Gov. Abbott, his team and other governors who are determined to act on this issue.”
It is unclear how Nebraska has tangibly contributed to Operation Lone Star. A public records request to the State Patrol asking how many arrests, tickets or apprehensions its troopers assisted with from March 1, 2021, to July 1, 2024, resulted in no records.
When asked if this meant the troopers did not assist with any arrests, tickets or apprehensions, a spokesperson for the Nebraska State Patrol said:
“Our 10 troopers who deployed to Texas in April were each paired with a Texas DPS trooper. They assisted their Texas partner throughout the mission, but all arrests, citations or otherwise were handled by Texas DPS. Texas DPS would have all of those records. Our team leader estimated that our troopers were involved in roughly 500 contacts per day, but that is only an approximate number since the records were maintained by Texas DPS.”
Public records from the Texas Department of Public Safety show it does not track the arresting officer’s department or state.
The Nebraska State Patrol spokesperson declined an interview about the operation and did not provide further comment. The Texas Department of Public Safety declined an interview and said in an email:
“We are grateful to every state and agency that has offered assistance in making Texas and the United States more secure, and we will continue integrating other law enforcement agencies into our operations at the border as appropriate. While the department does not discuss operational specifics, we continue monitoring the situation in order to make real-time decisions and adjust operations to best protect the people and property of this state.”
The Nebraska National Guard has not yet fulfilled a public records request regarding its involvement, and the governor’s office did not respond to requests to discuss the state’s efforts.
Cover Photo: Operation Lone Star involves National Guardsmen and law enforcement agents from Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska and a dozen other states. Yunyi Dai/Special to The Midwest Newsroom
Publisher’s notes: Midwest states far from U.S.-Mexico border have spent millions to send troops there was first published on KCUR and was republished with permission.
This story comes from the Midwest Newsroom, an investigative journalism collaboration that includes Iowa Public Radio, KCUR, Nebraska Public Media, St. Louis Public Radio and NPR.
Part of LNN’s mission is to amplify the work of others in providing greater visibility and voice to Hispanic, Latino communities.