Migrant encounters at the border are higher today than they were before Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star began

Department of Public Safety agents arrest a group of migrants as part of Operation Lone Star on Nov. 8, 2021, after they were caught on private property in Kinney County. (Credit: Verónica G. Cárdenas for ProPublica/The Texas Tribune)

For the past year and a half, Gov. Greg Abbott has made border security his priority and the centerpiece of his reelection campaign.

He’s put $4 billion on the line to do so, initiating construction of a border wall and sending thousands of National Guard service members and state police to patrol the border with Mexico for months on end in his highly touted Operation Lone Star.