Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the Texas National Guard used “drone technology” to track four suspected illegal immigrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border before they were arrested and charged with trespassing. It revealed that.

The information was released as part of a weekly update to Operation Lone Star, a multi-agency program launched by Mr. Abbott in 2021 to combat illegal immigration.

Illegal immigration has become one of the most heated political issues in recent years, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Between October 2019 and January 2024, law enforcement and suspected illegal immigrants were The number of encounters with a certain person reached 9.8 million.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has made cracking down on illegal crosswalks a key pillar of his campaign for a second term in the White House.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott
Texas Governor Greg Abbott. In an update released on Friday, Mr Abbott said four suspected illegal immigrants were captured with the help of “drone technology”.

Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP/Getty

On Friday, Mr. Abbott shared a photo with X that appeared to show two National Guardsmen standing next to a border fence covered in razor wire.

He wrote: “Operation Lone Star members are using drone technology to deter illegal border crossings along our nation's southern border.

“Texas continues to use all tools and strategies to deter and repel illegal immigration into the state.”

An attached update from Abbott's office discusses how the Texas National Guard used drones this week to combat suspected illegal border crossings.

“Earlier this week, the Texas National Guard used drone technology to assist law enforcement officers in apprehending four illegal immigrants who had just crossed the border. All four illegal immigrants were charged with trespassing,” the newspaper said. “It was done,” he said.

“The Texas National Guard continues to work with state and local law enforcement to prevent, deter, and repel cross-border criminal activity and illegal border crossings along the Texas-Mexico border.”

Since the start of Operation Lone Star in 2021, 511,300 people have been arrested on suspicion of illegal immigration, and an additional 42,900 people have been arrested on criminal charges, according to Abbott's update. Abbott's office announced that 37,900 of those arrested were charged with felonies.

The update also claimed that Texas law enforcement agencies “seized 481 million lethal doses of fentanyl” during the operation, an amount that “would replace every man, woman, and child in the United States and Mexico.” “That's enough to kill.”

Abbott also released updated numbers on the number of migrants Texas officials have sent to major Democratic cities, a policy launched in 2022.

Personnel deployed during this period included 44,500 in New York City, 36,000 in Chicago, and 12,500 in Washington, DC.

newsweek Governor Abbott's office was contacted for comment by email outside of normal business hours.

The dispute over illegal immigration has sparked heightened tensions between Texas authorities and the Biden administration since early 2024.

On January 22, the Supreme Court ruled that federal agents can remove razor wire placed along the border with Mexico by the Texas National Guard on Mr. Abbott's orders.

In response, Mr. Abbott said the state was being “invaded” and invoked the state's “constitutional authority to defend and protect itself,” prompting some Democrats to place the Texas National Guard under federal control. I argued that it should.