McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) – Texas DPS troopers assisting with Texas’ Operation Lone Star say they came across a group of 211 undocumented migrants in Maverick County in South Texas on Sunday, including 60 unaccompanied children.
One little girl told troopers she was 2 years old and waved a yellow piece of paper with a phone number on it, according to a post on X by DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez.
“Are you alone? How old are you, mama?” a trooper asked the little girl in Spanish.
She held up two fingers and said she was “dos” and when asked she said she was heading to her mother and father. The trooper asked where they were and she said “en los Estados Unidos (the United States.)”
“Regardless of political views, it is unacceptable for any child to be exposed to dangerous criminal trafficking networks. With a record number of unaccompanied children and hundreds of thousands missing, there is no one ensuring the safety & security of these children except for the men & women who are on the frontlines daily,” Olivarez posted on X.
“The reality is that many children are exploited & trafficked, never to be heard from again,” he wrote.
Olivarez says DPS has assisted with the rescue of over 900 children since Operation Lone Star began in 2021.
Operation Lone Star was started by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott as a state-funded border security initiative that so far has spent over $11 billion on technology, resources and personnel at the Texas/Mexico border.
Over $1 million of that has been spent on a 1,000-foot-long buoy put in the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, which is in Maverick County, to try to stop undocumented migrants from crossing the river from Piedras Negras, Mexico.
Abbott last week announced that the state was building another buoy in Eagle Pass, closer to Shelby Park — an area where Texas DPS and National Guard troops often stage forces.
On Monday, Abbott also renewed a border security disaster proclamation he first issued on May 31, 2021.
The proclamation states “that the surge of individuals unlawfully crossing the Texas—Mexico border posed an ongoing and imminent threat of disaster for a number of Texas counties and for all state agencies affected by this disaster.”
The disaster declaration includes these 64 counties: Aransas, Atascosa, Bee, Brewster, Brooks, Caldwell, Calhoun, Cameron, Chambers, Coleman, Colorado, Crane, Crockett, Culberson, DeWitt, Dimmit, Duval, Edwards, El Paso, Frio, Galveston, Goliad, Gonzales, Hidalgo, Hudspeth, Jackson, Jeff Davis, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kerr, Kimble, Kinney, Kleberg, La Salle, Lavaca, Live Oak, Mason, Maverick, McCulloch, McMullen, Medina, Menard, Midland, Pecos, Presidio, Real, Refugio, San Jacinto, San Patricio, Schleicher, Shackelford, Sutton, Terrell, Throckmorton, Uvalde, Val Verde, Victoria, Webb, Wharton, Wilbarger, Wilson, Zapata, and Zavala.
Abbott plans to visit Maverick County on Tuesday, as well as Hidalgo County, where he plans to help serve Thanksgiving meals to National Guard troops stationed on the border.
On Tuesday, Texas General Land Office Commissioner Dawn Buckingham also plans to visit the South Texas border, in Starr County, to show off construction of a new 1.4-mile segment of state border wall that also is part of Operation Lone Star.
The 1,400-acre ranch bought by the state also has been offered to President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration to be used for detentions and deportations.
Border Report plans to be at the wall kickoff. Look for an updated story at borderreport.com.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.