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Texas Receives $7.5B for Border Security Reimbursement
Confirmed
In Short: Texas Governor Greg Abbott celebrated the federal reimbursement of $7.5 billion for border security efforts through Operation Lone Star, which was launched in March 2021.
Abbott, joined by members of the Operation Lone Star Task Force and Texas' first Border Czar, Mike Banks, highlighted the significant reduction in illegal border crossings attributed to the initiative.
Abbott emphasized that Texas taxpayers should not have had to cover the costs of the Biden administration's border policies, which he said allowed thousands of unvetted individuals to enter the country daily.
The reimbursement comes 20 months after Abbott requested Congress to reimburse Texas for over $11.1 billion spent on border security.
U.S. Senator John Cornyn praised the reimbursement, stating that Texas taxpayers should not have had to shoulder the costs of the Biden administration's border crisis.
The federal reimbursement represents three-fourths of the $10 billion administered through the Department of Homeland Security's State Border Security Reinforcement Fund.
Texas is also pursuing additional federal money through a separate $3.5 billion Department of Justice reimbursement program for immigration-related law enforcement costs.
Abbott plans to use some of the funds to reduce property taxes while maintaining support for ongoing border security operations.
Texas lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are expressing support for the reimbursement, with some advocating for further federal funding to cover state-led border security efforts.
The reimbursement is expected to be incorporated into the state’s budget as Texas lawmakers prepare to return to the Capitol in January.
The federal reimbursement program was created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, aimed at reimbursing states for their independent border security spending.
What this adds
The reduction in illegal crossings is attributed to Operation Lone Star, though border encounters are also influenced by federal enforcement policies and broader migration trends.
Texas is continuing to plan for more state spending on border security despite the federal reimbursement.
What's confirmed
- Texas has received $7.5 billion from the Department of Homeland Security and is applying for additional money through a grant offered through the Department of Justice.
- Abbott credited Operation Lone Star with reducing illegal border crossings by more than 80%.
What's still developing
- He retired after also helping bring down illegal border crossings to historic lows, The Center Square reported.
- OLS officers worked day and night for four years to ensure “that Texas would be made safe and secure from Joe Biden's open border policies,” Abbott said at a press conference in Austin.
- “People cannot forget the reckless endangerment posed not just to Texas but to the United States of America by Joe Biden's open border policies” that allowed thousands of people to illegally enter the country a day who were “unvetted, not knowing how many of them would turn into murderers, rapists and other criminals,” he said.
- That’s more than multiple state fiscal year budgets and more than what the Trump administration allocated to federal border security efforts in Texas, The Center Square reported.
- Last year, Texas Senate and House budget proposals allocated more than $6 billion to border security efforts over a two-year period, The Center Square reported.
- Although illegal crossings at the southwest border have dropped by more than 95% under the second Trump administration, crime is ongoing and cartel networks are embedded throughout Texas and nationwide.
- OLS Task Force members argue it’s imperative that the state legislature keep funding border security efforts, including for investigations, prosecutions, transportation and jails for the record number of people arrested through OLS, The Center Square reported.
- Banks helped reduce illegal crossings in Texas before he was tapped by President Donald Trump as his second administration’s first Border Patrol chief.
- This included deploying thousands of National Guard troops, working with multiple states, constructing Texas’ own border wall, building concertina wire and marine barriers, expanding technological capabilities to stop illegal crossings and drug interdiction.
- For four years, the Biden Administration abdicated that responsibility, failed to secure our sovereign border, and forced Texas to step up and spend more than $11 billion in state taxpayer dollars doing the job Washington refused to do.
- Today, I’m proud to announce that Texas has received the restitution it is owed.
- Texas launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021, deploying Texas National Guard members and Department of Public Safety troopers to the Texas-Mexico border.