Operation Steel Curtain plus 10,000 state troopers and National Guard units deployed to protect Texas border

AP Photo/Julio Cortez

Last week Governor Abbott announced the use of shipping containers to create a steel wall next to the international bridge at Eagle Pass. Migrants crossing into Texas have shifted from Del Rio over to Eagle Pass in recent days. Operation Steel Curtain, a part of Operation Lone Star, uses dozens of steel shipping containers as a physical barrier and Department of Public Safety troopers lining the banks of the Rio Grande as manpower.

Operation Lone Star is a massive operation that Abbott began in March to provide supplemental border security and thwart human traffickers and drug cartels, The operation utilizes air, ground, and marine tactical border security units. Back in March, the writing was on the wall that the Biden administration has no intention of securing the southern border, and essentially, Texas is on its own. Never mind that border security is a federal obligation. The Biden border crisis is allowed to continue because of the administration’s unwillingness to protect the sovereignty of the United States. No other country would allow a constant invasion by illegal migrants on its border numbering over one million and not put a stop to it.

Governor Abbott is running for re-election and one of his priorities is to do what can be done on a state level to secure the border. The border is still porous, though, and with limited state resources and manpower, Abbott and law enforcement can only do so much. In other words, Texas does not have the resources that the federal government has. Frankly, it is unfair for the burden to fall of Texas. The state doesn’t have a willing partner in Washington.

Behind the steel wall of shipping containers, a fleet of Department of Public Safety patrol cars and dozens of officers are in a position to stop migrants who do make it through. Monday Abbott announced that he has deployed 10,000 state troopers and National Guard units to the Texas border as part of Operation Lone Star. The troop build-up is necessary because of reports of migrant caravans making their way north from southern Mexico.

“Through this important mission, DPS is partnering with the Texas Military Department (TMD) to employ Operation Steel Curtain tactics, which includes placing physical barriers – like large steel containers and concertina wire – as well as personnel and equipment along the border in order to block and repel criminal activity and stop violations of state law,” Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety told Border Report on Monday.

Adjutant General Tracy Norris, who heads the Texas Army National Guard, has posted on Twitter several photos showing the concertina wire outside the steel shipping containers lining the river banks, which she wrote are designed “to protect our border communities.”

“We continuously monitor the situation along the border in order to make real-time decisions and adjust our operations as necessary. DPS is working with federal, state and local partners on this mission, and we stand ready to protect the people and property of this state,” Olivarez told Border Report.

In preparation for possible confrontations with migrants or large crowds, state troopers and National Guard troops have been conducting maneuvers in the Eagle Pass area. The governor and law enforcement have to get creative in creating barriers on the border. In September in order to control the flood of more than 15,000 migrants crossing the Rio Grande River at Del Rio, DPS troopers set up a miles-long wall of patrol vehicles along the riverbank.

Another caravan departed from Tapachula last weekend. About 3,000 Haitians and Central Americans are traveling toward Eagle Pass. Border Patrol agents remind us that migrants aren’t all from Central America and Mexico. On Monday, a group of 142 migrants apprehended in La Joya included citizens of Romania, Albania.

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