Billions on the Border
A Closer Look at Taxpayer-Funded Border Initiatives in Texas
Together with The Texas Tribune and The Marshall Project, ProPublica investigates border initiatives under Gov. Greg Abbott. State funding for border security has swelled from $110 million in 2008-09 to nearly $3 billion for the 2022-23 budget cycle.
DOJ Investigating Texas’ Operation Lone Star for Alleged Civil Rights Violations
Emails obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune confirm that federal authorities are probing discrimination claims involving Gov. Greg Abbott’s multibillion-dollar border initiative.
Reality Check: Seven Times Texas Leaders Misled the Public About Operation Lone Star
As they investigated Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s border initiative, reporters repeatedly found situations where Abbott and DPS officials cited accomplishments that lacked crucial context or did not match reality. Here are a few examples.
Examining Nearly Two Decades of Taxpayer-Funded Border Operations
Since 2005, Texas Govs. Rick Perry and Greg Abbott have launched a multitude of widely publicized and costly border initiatives, which usually kicked off during their reelection campaigns or while they were considering bids for higher office.
Texas’ Border Operation Is Meant to Deter Cartels and Smugglers. More Often, It Imprisons Lone Men for Trespassing.
The largest share of Operation Lone Star arrests were of people accused only of trespassing on private property. Many spend months in prison, but the strategy does not appear to have slowed immigration.
Texas’ Governor Brags About His Border Initiative. The Data Doesn’t Back Him Up.
Arrests of U.S. citizens hundreds of miles from the border. Claiming drug busts from across the state. Changing statistics. We dug into the data Texas leaders use to boast about Operation Lone Star, and it raises more questions than answers.
