The Impact of Florida’s Operation Lone Star
Bottom Line: On Monday Governor DeSantis’ office released a second update on what Florida’s contingent of greater than 400 members has encountered along the southern border in Texas since being deployed in May. Dubbed Operation Lone Star, the Florida contingent of members of the National Guard, FDLE, FHP and FWC were sent in response to Texas Governor Greg Abbot’s request for assistance given the record influx of border crossers over the past year. In their first month on the border, they’ve encountered and interdicted a lot of illegal activity making its way into this country. As outlined in the update there have been:
- Greater than 10,000 undocumented migrants processed
- Over 600 arrests including over 160 human traffickers and an MS-13 gang member on the US Terror Watch List
- 231 pounds of illegal drugs confiscated
- 47 vehicle pursuits from illegal immigrants on the run from law enforcement
- Over $500,000 seized
What’s notable is that a contingent of just over 400 first responders at the border encountered that volume of activity in just a month. It’s also likely that without their presence, all of that activity would have been undetected with over 160 human traffickers still trafficking people into and out of our country. A most wanted international terrorist still on the loose along with a host of drug traffickers as well. It also makes one wonder how much undetected activity takes place daily across our entire southern border. As we’re aware, what comes across the southern border illegally doesn’t stay there. Florida’s response to the border crisis via Operation Lone Star has clearly been effective. At the same time, it also paints a picture that we’re only potentially scratching the surface of the illegal activity happening across our border.