CP year in review: Top 10 most read stories of 2021

By CP Staff, Wednesday, December 29, 2021

6. Texas Gov. Abbott deploys National Guard to Mexico border in 'Operation Lone Star,' slams Biden policies

Unaccompanied minors ride atop the wagon of a freight train, known as La Bestia (The Beast) in Ixtepec, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, June 18, 2014. | Reuters/Jose de Jesus Cortes

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the state’s Department of Public Safety deployed the Texas National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border as part of “Operation Lone Star” to prevent drug cartels and traffickers from smuggling people and drugs into the state.

The governor was also critical of the Biden administration, which pledged to reverse the Trump administration’s immigration policies that aimed to thwart smuggling and illegal immigration through the southern border.

In December, Abbott announced that the state has begun construction on a border wall, which it's building to counter what it views as the Biden administration’s lackluster enforcement of U.S. immigration laws.

The number of migrants who illegally crossed the border reached a record high of 213,593 in July. By November, the number of encounters between illegal migrants and law enforcement officials dropped to 173,620.

Illegal border crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border reached a record high of nearly 2 million in 2021.