Why were National Guardsmen stationed outside of wealthy private ranches in Texas?
That’s the central question in an investigation published by the Texas Tribune on Wednesday.
The Guardsmen were ostensibly part of Operation Lone Star, a multi-billion dollar mission spearheaded by Republican Governor Greg Abbott to prevent illegal crossings from Mexico. But several of the ranches in question are over an hour’s drive from the Southern border, and the troops asked to guard them told the Tribune that they rarely saw migrants. Even when they did, they were not authorized to step foot on private property.
The Tribune reports:
In practice, service members said, they stood around for hours, staring at each other and the highway, outside the private ranches — some of which had their own private security.
“We really don’t understand why we are there,” a service member told the Tribune. “We’re essentially mall security for ranches that already have paid security details to protect them.”
Abbott introduced Operation Lone Star last year, which has a two billion dollar annual budget. It is designed to bolster U.S. Customs and Border Protection efforts to curb illegal immigration. National Guardsmen staff multiple checkpoints where migrants are known to travel. They play an “observe and report” role since they are not allowed to detain anyone.
But several of the ranches where troops are stationed have never seen a heavy flow of migrants. And their connections to major political figures is eye-brow raising. The Tribune reports:
In January, the Texas Military Department sent troops to stand guard outside the famed King Ranch, the largest ranch in the United States, which covers more ground than the state of Rhode Island.
It also sent troops to the Armstrong Ranch, the property of a longtime Republican family that has hosted GOP leaders like Karl Rove, former Gov. Rick Perry and former Vice President Dick Cheney. In an infamous 2006 incident, Cheney accidentally shot his friend in the face during a hunting expedition at the Armstrong Ranch. The injuries were nonfatal.
Troops were also sent to stand guard outside the ranch where Kenedy County Judge Charles Burns lives. Burns is a Democrat.
“Representatives for the King and Armstrong ranches said they did not request the presence of the National Guard outside their ranches and that the troops were on the public right of way and not on their private property,” notes the Tribune. The outlet adds:
Jay Kleberg, a member of the family that owns the King Ranch who is running for land commissioner as a Democrat, said in a written statement that Operation Lone Star is a “colossal waste of taxpayer dollars” and a “serious threat to the health and safety of our Texas National Guard.”
The troops were removed from their posts outside the well-connected ranches after the Tribune initiated its investigation. Texas officials have defended the deployment but were unable to provide statistics demonstrating its efficacy.
State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, a Democrat who represents a border district, told the Tribune, “I have no objections to [the National Guard] being on the border. But I certainly have concerns with military presence at private ranches. It would be a waste of time and of resources. There’s better use of the National Guard on the border, not in the interior.”
