NEWS: Congressmen Greg Casar, Joaquin Castro, & Colleagues Are Urging Federal Agencies to Not Participate in Operation Lone Star
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Representatives Greg Casar (TX-35), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), and 30 of their colleagues released a letter to the House Committee on Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee, urging them to direct federal agencies to not participate in or support the implementation of Operation Lone Star in Texas or similar efforts in other states in the Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations bill.
“Under the U.S. Constitution, only the federal government can create and enforce immigration laws,” the members wrote. “Operation Lone Star is a harmful policy that makes all of us less safe under the guise of ‘securing’ the border.”
The members urge that the FY25 Homeland Security Appropriations bill include the following language:
The Committee recognizes that actions taken under Texas’ Operation Lone Star (OLS) are facing constitutional challenges and reports show that OLS is misappropriating the criminal justice system, wasting resources, contributing to broad harms, including increased racial profiling of border residents and the violation of their rights, and contributing to the injuries and deaths of scores of migrants and US citizens.
Within 60 days of enactment of this Act, the Committee directs DHS and CBP to issue policy: (1) to clarify that participating in and/or supporting Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers, Texas National or State Guard personnel, or other individuals working under the umbrella of Operation Lone Star to detain, arrest, jail, transport, surveil, or attempt to remove under Texas law, or otherwise target migrants as part of Texas’ program is prohibited; (2) to clarify that Border Patrol will not enforce Texas’ OLS state laws; and (3) to prohibit DHS from accepting any unlawful extensions of additional authority under OLS or related state laws.
No funds made available in this or any prior appropriations Act may be used to implement state programs targeting migrants for arrest on state misdemeanor trespass charges or other state laws that attempt to regulate immigration enforcement activities.
The letter is signed by Representatives Greg Casar (TX-35), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Colin Allred (TX-32), Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Cori Bush (MO-01), Tony Cárdenas (CA-29), Sean Casten (IL-06), Danny Davis (IL-07), Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Maxwell Frost (FL-10), Jesús G. “Chuy” García (IL-04), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Al Green (TX-09), Raúl Grijalva (AZ-07), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Jonathan Jackson (IL-01), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Sara Jacobs (CA-51), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Grace Napolitano (CA-31), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Linda Sánchez (CA-38), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Darren Soto (FL-09), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), andNydia Velázquez (NY-07).
The letter is endorsed by American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), America's Voice, Austin Region Justice for Our Neighbors, BISHOP E. San Pedro Ozanam Center Inc., Children at Risk, Hope Border Institute, Human Rights Watch, ILRC, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, Immigration Law and Justice Center, International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Kino Border Initiative, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, Latin American Working Group (LAWG), LatinoJustice PRLDEF, National Immigrant Justice Center, National Immigration Law Center, National Immigration Project, National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC), Project On Government Oversight, Resilient Advocates Collective, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas - Justice Team, Southern Border Communities Coalition, Texas Civil Rights Project, Texas Jail Project, United We Dream, Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Witness at the Border, and Woori Juntos.
“The implementation of OLS continues to harm families and traumatize children here along the U.S.-Mexico border, where US citizens have already been racially profiled by DPS,” said Linda Corchado, senior director of immigration for Children at Risk. “We must reduce the devastating harm OLS brings to children by ensuring less agencies support these illegal and harmful tactics.”
"Congressmen Casar and Castro and their colleagues are spot on with this letter. We've already seen how damaging Operation Lone Star is for borderland communities like mine,” said Marisa Limón Garza, executive director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center. “The damage is palpable whether it's deadly high speed chases or the unnecessary inspection of import/export trucks at our ports of entry that create backlogs for federal enforcement officials and damages residents' quality of life. A thoughtful approach clearly delineating the rightful role of federal authorities over immigration enforcement will help stem the blatant overreach by states like Texas.”
“Operation Lone Star is an abomination,” said Vicki Gass, executive director of the Latin American Working Group (LAWG). “Strategies must emphasize addressing the root causes forcing people to flee their countries - issues such as climate change, poverty and inequality, lack of opportunities due to an economic model based on exports, and corrupt governments.”
“Operation Lone Star is a reprehensible program that unconstitutionally targets Latinos and drains money from the state budget — no federal funds should be used in support of this sinister crusade,” said Andrew Case, supervising attorney for LatinoJustice PRLDEF.
“Operation Lone Star has devastated Black and Brown communities at our southern border – resulting in unlawful arrests, human rights violations, and even deaths since its implementation. Not one cent of federal resources should be allocated to such harmful and inhumane efforts,” said Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center. “Congressman Casar’s principled and ongoing leadership has been essential in the fight against Governor Abbott’s efforts to enact harmful state immigration policies that usurp federal immigration authority through laws like SB 4 and policies like Operation Lone Star.”
“For years, Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star program has inflicted unthinkable pain and cruelty at the Texas border,” said Sirine Shebaya, executive director of the National Immigration Project. “The federal government has a clear responsibility not only to cease any collaboration with Texas officials on Operation Lone Star, but also to put barriers to the operation of this unconstitutional program and prevent it from expanding. We urge the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee to take action immediately by including this proposed language in the FY25 Homeland Security Appropriations bill.”
“Congressmen Castro's and Casar's proposed report language is an important and overdue step for ending the Border Patrol's collaboration with Operation Lone Star, and preventing even worse abuses if SB4 takes effect,” said Katherine Hawkins, senior legal analyst at the Project On Government Oversight.
“For more than three years, Texas border communities have resisted Governor Abbott's disastrous Operation Lone Star (OLS) that has been implemented with support from DHS. Despite denials, groups have documented Border Patrol violating migrants’ rights in support of OLS,” said Lilian Serrano, director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition. “The federal government must reject any involvement with this hateful program and protect the human rights and dignity of migrants and border residents. Today, states across the country are considering bills that replicate OLS' discriminatory and deadly tactics. I applaud Reps. Casar and Castro for ensuring federal resources aren’t entangled in OLS in Texas or any similar proposals in other states.”
“Federal refusal to cooperate with the immoral and illegal practices established by the State of Texas under Operation Lone Star is key to ensuring that these policies have as little impact on border Texans and those seeking safe passage through our State as possible,” said Aron Thorn, a senior attorney for the Beyond Borders Program at the Texas Civil Rights Project. “We applaud efforts to ensure that federal resources are used responsibly and within the boundaries of federal and constitutional law, and urge Members of Congress to ensure the inclusion of language explicitly forbidding even the appearance of federal blessing of the shameful practices under Operation Lone Star in the FY2025 Appropriations Bill."
“Governor Abbott has kept Operation Lone Star (OLS) in place as a violent tool to terrorize, harm, and even kill Black, brown, and immigrant communities, including children. Make no mistake: every dollar that goes to Texas’ immoral, anti-immigrant policy agenda is a dollar that will cause irreparable harm,” said Juan Jose Martinez-Guevera, Texas advocacy manager of United We Dream Action. “Operation Lone Star has already resulted in the tragic, preventable deaths of dozens of people, including many who drowned in the Rio Grande after their bodies were caught in the OLS border buoys intentionally lined with razor wire. As we speak, Governor Abbott is fighting to expand Operation Lone Star by enacting SB4, an unconstitutional policy designed to enable blatant racial profiling of Black and brown Texans. Operation Lone Star goes against every value we should hold as a country; values that honor everyone’s humanity, dignity, and right to safety and freedom. Texans deserve investments in the resources that truly keep us safe –including inclusive and equitable access to healthcare, housing, and education. We urge Congress to stand against Operation Lone Star and SB4, and ensure no federal funding is given to this anti-immigrant regime.”
“It would be preposterous for federal funding to come anywhere near to supporting Operation Lone Star, an activity that so grossly violates human rights, federal authority, and civil-military relations norms that the Department of Justice is challenging aspects of it in federal court. This is a common sense measure that distances the U.S. taxpayer from some great harm being done in Texas,” said Adam Isacson, director for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).
The full letter can be viewed here.
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Congressman Greg Casar represents Texas’s 35th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which runs down I-35 from East Austin to Hays County to the West Side of San Antonio. A labor organizer and son of Mexican immigrants, Casar serves as the Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for the 118th Congress. He also serves on the Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the Committee on Agriculture.