RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia National Guard soldiers and airmen finished their second week supporting Operation Lone Star in Texas on Monday, July 24.
As part of the operation, the troops have been staffing observation posts and conducting patrols along the Texas and Mexico border to detect potential illegal border crossings and criminal activities and report them to law enforcement.
According to the website of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard are working together in Operation Lone Star to “secure the border; stop the smuggling of drugs, weapons, and people into Texas; and prevent, detect, and interdict transnational criminal behavior between ports of entry.”
As of July 21, Operation Lone Star has led to more than 394,200 apprehensions of illegal immigrants, 31,000 criminal arrests and more than 29,100 felony charges. In addition, Texas law enforcement has seized “more than 422 million lethal doses of fentanyl,” according to the Virginia National Guard.
