Immigration officers arrested nearly 4,200 illegal immigrants during a 10-day operation in Texas, and 60% of them had criminal records, federal authorities said.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials announced the results of Lone Star Mission during a press conference Thursday in Dallas, Texas.
Lone Star Mission ran Oct. 19-29 and nabbed 4,170 illegal immigrants across the state, including murderers, sexual predators, drunk drivers and human smugglers.
The coordinated Texas-wide enforcement effort averaged more than 400 arrests per day, resulting in “some of the largest daily numbers the agency has ever seen for a single state,” per Fox News.
Texas became ground zero for the Biden administration’s open border crisis, prompting state officials to take matters into their own hands as illegal migrants flooded into the state. Gov. Greg Abbott appointed the state’s first Border Czar, Mike Banks, on Jan. 30, 2023, and started busing migrants to Democratic states and cities.
Now they have the support of the feds. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Enforcement and Removal Operations field offices across the state worked alongside Texas sheriff’s offices and police departments to carry out Lone Star Mission.
Officials reported they apprehended a mix of criminal offenders and made administrative arrests for civil immigration offenses. Of the 4,170 arrests statewide, 879 occurred in North Texas.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin attended the press conference with the five ICE ERO field office directors and made appearances on Fox News and other news outlets to discuss the operation.
“Lone Star Mission has been an incredible success,” Mullin said. “This operation shows exactly how important our state and local partnerships are for protecting American communities.”
In Texas, ICE has field offices in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso and Harlingen. Mullin said the operation allowed officers to locate people they had been trying to find for some time, NBC5 Dallas-Ft. Worth reported.
During his appearance on Fox News’ “America Reports,” Mullin added that the group included cartel members, serious gangbangers, drug traffickers and repeat offenders. He said 60% of those arrested had “extensive criminal backgrounds.”
“We are constantly arresting people that are in this country illegally, but unfortunately, what we continue to see, once they have been arrested, we find out who they claim to be isn’t true,” Mullin said.
DHS also has arrested more than 2,000 known terrorists during President Donald Trump’s second term. “We didn’t know they were here or when they came across the border they gave a fake name,” Mullin said.
Among those arrested in Lone Star Mission, Javier Hernandez Alcon, a Mexican national, had been deported twice before. ICE arrested him Oct. 20 in Liberty. His criminal history includes convictions for burglary (forced entry into a residence) and illegal reentry and an arrest for capital murder.
Victor Manuel Macias-Castro, an illegal immigrant from Mexico and La Linea Cartel member, was arrested Oct. 22 in El Paso. His criminal history includes convictions for conspiracy to enter, transport, or harbor aliens, illegal entry and illegal re-entry.
In Houston, ICE officers arrested Ramon Antonio Martinez, an illegal migrant from Honduras who is wanted in his home country. He is a suspect in the alleged killing of a Honduran man alongside two other suspects.
ICE officers located Orlando Aguilar, of Mexico, in Dallas and arrested him Oct. 24. His criminal history includes convictions for felony intoxication assault with a vehicle causing serious bodily injury and driving while intoxicated.
Gerardo Daniel Rivera-Rivera, of Mexico, was arrested Oct. 24 in Zapata County. His criminal history includes convictions for felony sexual assault and illegal re-entry.
Mullin said ICE officers worked with local law enforcement agencies in Texas to locate and arrest people with outstanding warrants or people who had been on ICE’s radar.
The 40% of those arrested who did not have criminal records were described as “collateral criminals” or they had other immigration violations, Mullin said during the news conference.
“They may not have been the target, but they were in the vehicle, they were in a house, or wherever the warrant was served at,” Mullin said.
Texas Enforcement and Removal Operations officers took more than 136,000 illegal immigrants into custody from October 2025 through Sept. 30, 2026, NBC5 reported.
Immigration enforcement will remain a priority of the Trump administration, Mullin said. Targeted operations will continue, but he added officers are working within available resources.
Mullin highlighted the country’s historic drop in crime, including the murder rate which has hit a 126-year-low, with other violent crimes also at record lows.
“Thank God to President Trump for coming in and empowering us to enforce our nation’s laws,” Mullin said. “We’re able to see the crime rate drop.”
