ROMA, Texas - National Guard members continue to play a key role in sealing and securing the southern U.S. border as additional troops join them.
Nearly 1,500 Army National Guard Soldiers from more than 15 states now serve on federal orders supporting U.S. Northern Command, U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. These Soldiers staff observation posts and provide aviation, logistical and maintenance support throughout the southern border in an area stretching from California to Texas.
Simultaneously, almost 5,000 Texas Army and Air National Guard members have served in the Lone Star State on state active duty orders under their governor’s authority as part of Operation Lone Star, a joint task force that works with state and federal law enforcement officials, including Border Patrol, to deter, detect and stop illegal border crossings and to interdict transnational criminals.
“I’m proud to be doing this for my state,” said a sergeant with the Texas Army Guard whose name was withheld for security purposes.
The sergeant, an engineer, said his team’s efforts have given Border Patrol agents greater mobility along the Rio Grande River near Roma, Texas, while also reducing areas where those illegally crossing the border can hide once they make landfall on the U.S. side.
That stems from projects that have widened and shored up dirt roads and pathways along the top of the steep riverbank and cleared brush and other debris from the river’s edge.
“First, we came down with the dozer and kind of widened up this road area,” he said. “Then we came over with the grader to kind of level things off. That allowed us to get our excavator down there on a level playing field and be able to scrape away that debris.”
Other Texas Guard members serving with Operation Lone Star have augmented the U.S. Border Patrol, staffing static and mobile observation posts and using everything from binoculars to high-tech options to detect and then direct Border Patrol agents to crossings or cue them to potential crossings before they happen.
“Basically, we have the capabilities of having a thermal and regular camera system that can see [several] miles out at a time, depending on the brush and the terrain,” said a sergeant with the Texas Army Guard who serves as part of an observation team with Lone Star.
While the technology helps, simply having a presence along the border is a key element of deterring illegal border crossings, he said.
“It’s kind of the essential part,” said the sergeant. “And presence, I honestly have noticed, is just a natural deterrent.”
The presence of Guard members also frees up Border Patrol agents to return to areas along the border.
Since its formation in 2021, Operation Lone Star has detected and reported more than 194,000 potential illegal border crossings, disrupted and turned back more than 138,000 potential smuggling events, and detained and referred almost 264,000 individuals for illegally crossing into Texas from Mexico, said Texas National Guard officials.
Guard members also work hand-in-hand with Border Patrol and state and local law enforcement agencies, said Texas guard officials. Individuals detained by Guard members for illegally crossing the border are taken into the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol.
For the engineer sergeant, working with Border Patrol and Customs has been a symbiotic and easy partnership.
“They’ve been very transparent with us,” he said. “The communication has always been there, so I’ve had nothing but a good experience with them.”
And, said the sergeant, applying his military construction skills to a mission at home has been rewarding.
“As a part of the Texas Army National Guard, we’re trained to do various things,” he said. “It’s not only just combat. This is the kind of the stuff that I was trained to do when I came into the Army. So, utilizing the equipment and having it be effective for Border Patrol especially, it’s been very rewarding.”