(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) Texas is defending the border, doing the federal government’s job, Gov. Greg Abbott, argues, having launched Operation Lone Star to thwart criminal activities resulting from President Joe Biden’s open border policies.
While Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the Biden administration several times over alleged immigration law violations, until these issues are resolved in court, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is working around the clock to keep Texans, and Americans, safe, Abbott said.
Since Operation Lone Star began in early March, Texas DPS from March 4 through May 6, made more than 30,500 referrals to U.S. Border Patrol, a spokesperson told The Center Square by email.
This is in addition to the 178,622 people illegally entering the U.S. apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in April, the highest one-month total in two decades.
Texas DPS also reported an 800% increase in the amount of fentanyl its officers confiscated after apprehending drug smugglers this April compared to last April.
“I don’t know if Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas and the Biden administration either don’t have a clue what’s going on or they are purposefully misleading their fellow Americans,” Abbott told Fox News.
The amount of fentanyl Texas DPS confiscated in April “was enough fentanyl coming across the border to kill every single person in the state of New York,” Abbott said.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid originally developed by pharmaceutical companies to help cancer patients, is “approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin,” according to the DEA.
Two milligrams, the weight of a mosquito, is considered to be lethal. A teaspoon holds about 5,000 milligrams, enough to kill 2,500 people. One pound of fentanyl, or 453,592 milligrams, could kill 226,796 people.
