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North Texas senator expects 'Operation Lone Star' to be fully funded by May

Sen. Kelly Hancock said costs have risen as state officials try to find ways to address the situation along the border.

FORT WORTH, Texas — In his recently released 2024-25 budget proposal, Gov. Greg Abbott is asking lawmakers to continue fully funding his border operation known as "Operation Lone Star."

That security mission has already cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

And the state’s senior military leader, the head of the Texas Military Department, recently told members of the Texas Senate Finance Committee he would need another $1.8 billion to keep Operation Lone Star running through the next two-year budget cycle.

Maj. Gen. Thomas Suelzer also told lawmakers it will cost just under $460 million to keep troops along the border through the end of August.

Sen. Kelly Hancock is a member of the Senate Finance Committee and said the state, in essence, deployed $4 billion in assets all at once along the border.

All the while, the Republican state senator, whose district covers much of Fort Worth and parts of Tarrant County, said more and more people keep trying to cross the border.

“As the numbers continue to climb, we’re constantly looking for new ways to address the issue. So, we’ve increased construction of a border wall which costs more money and engineering. And we’ve deployed more projects,” Sen. Hancock said on Inside Texas Politics. “As these numbers have increased, as that migration has shifted farther north, additional funds were requested and so we had to make some adjustments there.”

Sen. Hancock said he fully expects Operation Lone Star to be addressed in the budget this year, and the entire operation to be fully funded by May.

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