Texas is reducing the manpower devoted for Operation Lone Star, Gov. Greg Abbott’s initiative stationing National Guard troops at the U.S/Mexico border.
“We’re 18 months in. And one of the big questions about the mission is, can we sustain the level of troops that we’ve devoted to it?” asks James Barragán, who reported the story for The Texas Tribune. “One, because it’s a lot of troops. At one point, Gov. Abbott had cited it as 10,000 troops. And secondly, because the money is running out. it’s tough to finance that many troops on the border.”
Barragán estimates approximately 6,500 service members are currently devoted to the mission, with about 5,000 along the border and 1,500 in a support role.
“But there does seem to be a decrease in the number of troops,” Barragán says. “We are watching to see, where does the financing come next and is that going to affect the number of troops?”
Listen to the conversation in the audio player above, plus more from the week in Texas politics, including GOP governors’ opposition to Joe Biden’s student debt relief and a preview of the Texas Tribune Festival.
