Texas Gov. Greg Abbott takes fire from all sides for indefinite National Guard border deployment


Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has made his deployment of state police and National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border a centerpiece of his re-election campaign. But a growing chorus has begun criticizing it as a politically motivated waste of $2 billion a year that has forced hundreds of part-time troops to deploy to the border with inadequate resources, a fuzzy mission, COVID outbreaks, cramped housing, and delayed paychecks, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Abbott's deployment, named Operation Lone Star, has been slammed this month by his likely Democratic gubernatorial opponent Beto O'Rourke but also Allen West, a conservative former Army lieutenant colonel and chairman of the Texas Republican Party who is challenging Abbott in the GOP primary. National Guard troops and veterans are speaking out, too.
Abbott launched Operation Lone Star last March, saying he had to deploy troops to bolster border security amid what he called President Biden's soft immigration enforcement. His office says that is still true. In September he requested 1,500 National Guard troops to join the 500 already at the border. After Fox News host Tucker Carlson began regularly attacking Abbott for not sending down more troops, Abbott quickly requested another 2,500 troops, the Times reports. By November, his office boasted of 10,000 National Guard members deployed to the border.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"But the Texas Guard could not reach those numbers solely with volunteers," the Times notes. "So the mission became mandatory," and "those called up had to report within weeks or, in some cases, a few days." Maj. Gen. Charles Aris said Guard members can expect to spend 365 days on the border mission, with probably two yearlong "turns."
"This is just ridiculous, you're playing with my life and my family's life," Hugo Brito, a 20-year Guard veteran who said he decided to retire because of Operation Lone Star, told the Times. An unidentified active Guard member deployed near Brownsville was more blunt. "All we're doing is standing down here," he told the Times. "If someone comes up, we ask them to stop and wait, we call Border Patrol. If someone runs, we call Border Patrol. We're basically mall cops on the border."
O'Rourke and West both pointed to Army Times reports about four suicides among guardsmen tied to the mission. "We rushed into a failure," West said. "We decided that it was all about a political optic."
Read more about Operation Lone Star at The New York Times.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
How to travel with your dog
The Week Recommends These tips will help both of you have a great time
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US
-
'Congress could help by providing federal protections'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
-
Musk vows DOGE pullback as Tesla profits plunge
Speed Read The Tesla SEO says he will soon step back from government matters to devote more time to the company
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Musk vows DOGE pullback as Tesla profits plunge
Speed Read The Tesla SEO says he will soon step back from government matters to devote more time to the company
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
IMF sees slump from tariffs, Trump tries to calm markets
Speed Read The International Monetary Fund predicts the U.S. and global economies will slow significantly due to the president's trade war
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
DHS chief Kristi Noem's purse stolen from eatery
Speed Read Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's purse was stolen while she dined with family at a restaurant in Washington, D.C.
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Trump stands by Hegseth amid ouster reports
Speed Read The president dismissed reports that he was on the verge of firing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over a second national security breach
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Hegseth reportedly shared war plans in 2nd group text
Speed Read The defense secretary sent information about an attack in Yemen to a Signal group chat that included his wife and brother
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
El Salvador's CECOT prison becomes Washington's go-to destination
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Republicans and Democrats alike are clamoring for access to the Trump administration's extrajudicial deportation camp — for very different reasons
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Supreme Court takes up Trump birthright appeal
Speed Read The New Jersey Attorney General said a constitutional right like birthright citizenship 'cannot be turned on or off at the whims of a single man'
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Court slams Trump, senator visits Ábrego García
Speed Read The case 'should be shocking not only to judges' but all Americans with an 'intuitive sense of liberty'
By Peter Weber, The Week US