Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Spokesperson Lt. Chris Olivarez said the Biden Administration’s refusal to enforce existing immigration laws directly impacts small communities along the southern border as local resources are constantly diverted to assist with cases involving illegal aliens.
“It really does directly impact these smaller police departments, sheriffs, that don’t have the manpower to actually take on a situation like we’ve been dealing with the last three years,” Olivarez said during a recent episode of U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn’s (R-TN) podcast, Unmuted with Marsha, shared exclusively with The Tennessee Star.
“The calls for service, emergency calls – when you’re talking about an agency or a department that only has anywhere from three to five officers or deputies to respond to an area in a county, and now they’re having to divert their resources to respond to illegal immigrants that are either crossing on someone on someone’s private property or someone that’s in distress – well now there is that lack of responding to emergency calls. These counties don’t have those resources, especially the ones along the border,” Olivarez added.
To Olivarez’s point, Blackburn cited her conversations with local ranchers, members of the Texas National Guard, and other public safety officials during her visit to Eagle Pass last month, recalling one story in particular involving a rancher whose home was broken into by an illegal alien while his daughter was in another room doing schoolwork.
“It is very disheartening…when you hear some of these stories from these ranchers. What they have to deal with really does impact everyone, not just first responders. We see that firsthand and you got to see that firsthand…So I think it really sheds light on the situation,” Olivarez said.
Blackburn and Olivarez went on to discuss Texas’ Operation Lone Star, which was launched by Governor Abbott in 2021 in response to the historic influx of illegal border crossings and smuggling operations that continue to take place along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Since Operation Lone Star launched three years ago, the effort has led to over 503,800 illegal alien apprehensions, more than 40,400 criminal arrests, and more than 36,100 felony charges.
When it comes to apprehending fentanyl, Texas law enforcement agencies have seized over 469 million lethal doses of the synthetic opioid since the operation’s launch.
“It really does show the hard work that our troopers have been doing in the last three years despite challenges that we face everyday,” Olivarez said, noting how the influx of drugs, especially fentanyl, “remains to be a significant threat” to Americans across the nation.
Olivarez said the most “shocking” cases he has encountered while carrying out Operation Lone Star has been any case involving children in distress.
“I would say one of the most shocking things that I’ve experienced, and I think I can speak for our agency and as well as our troopers, is was anytime there’s children involved – especially when you’re having to recover children that have drowned from the river because they’re trying to come across the river with adults or by themselves. I think that’s, really, probably the most shocking thing that we have witnessed and our troopers have to witness when they are having to perform some of these rescues on these children that are being left abandoned,” Olivarez said.
Noting how Texas agencies have recovered over 900 children from human smuggling scenarios, Olivarez added that the federal government’s failure to protect migrant children from such situations “shows that their interest right now is not really the care of the safety of these migrants.”
“When you have unaccompanied children that are coming across [the border] and the fact that the federal government fails to address that issue and protect these children who are most vulnerable really shows that their interest right now is not really the care of the safety of these migrants. They really don’t care, and the fact that we’re having to step in as an agency really shows the work that we’re doing and trying to rescue some of these children and prevent them from actually being placed in the wrong hands or being exploited sexually or through labor trafficking,” Olivarez said.
In regards to curbing illegal immigration into the U.S. as a whole, Olivarez said the Biden Administration should simply enforce existing laws passed by Congress, noting how the border was “the most secure” before President Joe Biden signed 94 executive orders rescinding Trump-era immigration policies.
“It’s very simple. Enforce the laws that are on the books already. We know that prior to 2021, we had the most secure border – at least in my experience in law enforcement – ever. Immigration was down, interior enforcement was up. We were actually apprehending criminals that were in the country and deporting them back,” Olivarez explained.
“The fact that all [of] those policies were…completely resented – that’s why we’re in the situation that we’re in right now. We’re having to spend billions of dollars in Texas taxpayer money to fund our operations so we can take on this responsibility,” Olivarez added.
Olivarez also addressed legal challenges brought on by the Biden Administration in regards to measures Texas has taken to secure its border with Mexico, saying that the fight against apprehending migrants and pushing back on federal challenges has been an “uphill battle.”
“We’re not only having to combat criminal organizations, cartels, suspected terrorists, those that want to cause harm to not only our state but the country, but also our own federal government that continues to challenge us from protecting our own state. I really think it’s quite ironic that they try to stop us when we place bearers along the river or when we try to enforce any laws that we have in the state of Texas to actually prevent illegal border crossings,” Olivarez said.
Despite setbacks from the Biden Administration, Olivarez said Texas authorities will continue to “keep doing what we’re doing as far as trying to hold the line, in a sense, take control, and protect our state as well as our country.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Blackburn (R-TX) does such a great job…