Texas congressional Democrats vent frustration on tepid DOJ Operation Lone Star response

Several Texas congressional Democrats, in a letter dated Monday to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, vented frustration at the Justice Department for not taking aggressive action to assert federal authority over Gov. Greg Abbott's ever-expanding border security initiative called Operation Lone Star.

"We need to address the humanitarian issues at our border head on, and chart a new path for a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system," the letter signed by 12 of the 13 Democrats representing Texas in Congress. "Operation Lone Star is nothing but an expensive civil rights violation and must be investigated.”

The six-page letter takes a plaintive tone as it chides Democratic President Joe Biden's Justice Department, which is run by Garland, for what the Congress members say is a "lack of federal public reporting and delayed action" to deal with what they see as the Republican Texas governor's overreach on border and immigration matters.

Operation Lone Star in less than three years has ballooned into an $11 billion buildup of National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers patrolling communities along the border and reinforcing those efforts with miles of razor while and new sections of state-built barriers resembling those installed during the Trump administration.

“In the face of ongoing escalation, it is critical that DOJ ... send a strong message regarding OLS abuses," the letter states. "We are also seeking clarity regarding the Administration’s position as to the legal interference of federal immigration law by Texas officials and law enforcement acting under OLS.”

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The letter questions whether the Justice Department has examined the legality of Abbott's actions and whether the federal agency is "prosecuting violations of federal law committed by Texas state authorities" while carrying out Abbott's directives.

In numerous public appearances, both in border communities and in other regions of the state, Abbott has insisted that he has the constitutional authority to take actions he deems necessary to secure Texas' 1,254-mile border with Mexico. Operation Lone Star was launched about three months into Biden's presidency and the rollback of several of Trump's hardline immigration policies.

The governor's office did not return a call for comment on the Democrats' letter.

The Justice Department has pushed back on at least one of Abbott's own moves at the border by filing a lawsuit seeking to force the removal of 1,000 feet of floating tethered buoys placed in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass to discourage unlawful crossings.

A panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday upheld a federal judge's order that the buoys be moved to the Texas shoreline as the case to determine of the buoys constitute a violation of the 1899 Rivers and Harbors Act moves forward. The act requires approval of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before barriers can be installed in navigable waterways.

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The letter asks the Justice Department to do more, including examine whether a newly passed Senate Bill 4, which Abbott is expected to sign into law and would require people accused of illegally crossing border to accept a magistrate judge's order to return to Mexico or face felony prosecution.

The Texas Democrats who signed the letter are Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett of Austin; Jasmine Crocket and Colin Allred of Dallas; Veronica Escobar of El Paso; Lizzie Fletcher, Sheila Jackson Lee, Al Green and Sylvia Garcia of Houston; Joaquin Castro of San Antonio, Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen; and Marc Veasey of Fort Worth. Laredo's Henry Cuellar did not sign.

"We do not downplay the severe challenges our nation is facing at the Southern border and the need for new solutions," the letter states. "Undoubtedly, Congress must put aside partisan differences and come together to address the broken immigration system. We also acknowledge that collaboration and cooperation between local, state, and federal law enforcement is necessary to achieve progress and address the humanitarian needs at the Southern Border."

John C. Moritz covers Texas government and politics for the USA Today Network in Austin. Contact him at jmoritz@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly called Twitter, @JohnnieMo.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Texas Democrats to AG Garland: Rein in Abbott's Operation Lone Star