Should the federal government pay back border states like Texas for money they independently spent on state-led border security and immigration enforcement efforts? Gov. Greg Abbott and several elected officials in the Lone Star State think so.
Some Texas lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are expressing their support after Abbott sent a letter to Congress last week, requesting the federal government approve a more than $11 billion dollar reimbursement for money Texas spent on Operation Lone Star.
The controversial state-led border enforcement mission was launched in 2021 and has cost the state more than $11.1 billion.
“President Biden’s policies left Texas and the rest of America defenseless against an unprecedented infiltration of violent criminals, known terrorists, and other hostile foreign actors," Abbott said in his letter. “The burden that our State has borne is a direct result of a refusal by the federal government to do its job.”
Since Operation Lone Star’s inception, the governor said, the effort has “repelled over 140,000 attempted illegal entries; made over 50,000 criminal arrests; seized over half a billion lethal doses of fentanyl.”
Abbott is not alone in backing the massive reimbursement request. Rep. Richard Peña Raymond, a Laredo Democrat, told The Texas Newsroom he actually believes the state is owed more money from the federal government.
“I introduced a bill that [if it] were to pass, directs the comptroller of the State of Texas to submit a bill to Congress and the President to reimburse us for all the money that we've spent on border security,” Raymond said. “And I only go back a few years, so it's like a $20 billion request.”
Raymond has also filed another bill this legislative session that would direct Texas’ attorney general to sue the federal government for reimbursement if Congress doesn’t respond to the state’s request.
“His request also demonstrates this is a bipartisan issue,” said Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, in an interview with The Texas Newsroom, adding that Raymond “represents a border district — he knows this well.”
Hughes said this isn’t the state’s first attempt to be reimbursed for state efforts either.
“If you go back 10, 12 years — we have sent letters to the feds. We've sent them invoices. Some people thought that was a joke. But they really do owe us that money,” Hughes said.
Whether or not Congress will agree and honor the state’s reimbursement request is not known at the time. However, U.S. Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, has already weighed in.
“Texas taxpayers who have been financing Operation Lone Star for four years cannot be forgotten," Cornyn said in a statement shortly after Abbott announced the move. “I will fight to include funds in Congress’ reconciliation legislation to reimburse Texas for its historic efforts to secure the border as a result of the Biden administration’s complete and total absence and dereliction of duty.”
Regardless, Texas is continuing to plan for more state spending on border security.
Both the Texas House and Senate included $6.5 billion for the line item in their proposed budgets for the state’s next two fiscal years. Exactly how that money would be spent hasn’t yet been discussed by lawmakers.
