Texas shifting $359 million from prisons to fund Operation Lone Star border mission – By Michael Murney (Houston Chronicle) / Oct 28, 2022
The move is the latest infusion of public funds into Gov. Greg Abbott’s $4 billion border policing action.
Texas state leaders are moving nearly $360 million originally allocated for the state’s prison system towards funding Governor Greg Abbott’s border security operation for the next ten months, the Texas Tribune’s Karen Brooks Harper reported Friday.
Abbott’s border mission, dubbed Operation Lone Star, has racked up a $4 billion price tag since the Republican governor launched the initiative in March 2021. The state has used those funds to station thousands of Texas National Guardsmen and Department of Public Safety troopers along the Texas-Mexico border.
According to the Tribune, the Texas Legislative Budget Board said they have chosen to divert $359.6 million from the state’s prison system to Operation Lone Star because the border mission is running dangerously low on funding.
The entire sum will be taken from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; $339 million will go to the Texas Military Department to pay National Guardsmen to continue patrolling the southern border. Another $20.6 million will be distributed amongst a number of agencies supporting the operation, the Tribune reported.
