More than half a billion doses of fentanyl seized. Over 36,900 felony arrests. And 507,200 illegal immigrants apprehended. That’s what Texas accomplished while the federal government sat idle, and now Washington is finally paying up.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has approved $7.5 billion to reimburse Texas for years of border security operations the state was forced to conduct on its own. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced the funding last week, marking a long-awaited victory for a state that refused to back down when the Biden administration abandoned its constitutional duty, The Daily Signal reports.
“Texas was the front line for the Biden border invasion, which flooded tens of millions of illegal immigrants and criminals into our country,” said Rep. Beth Van Duyne, a Republican from North Texas. “The Lone Star State fought courageously to slow this tsunami of illegal immigration.”
The reimbursement comes from a $13.5 billion pool Congress created for state and local border security expenses through the “One Big, Beautiful Bill.” While the $7.5 billion represents a significant return, it still falls short of the more than $11 billion Texas spent on Operation Lone Star, the massive enforcement effort Abbott launched after Biden took office in 2021.
Border Czar Tom Homan, who served under both the Obama and Trump administrations, placed the blame squarely on the former president’s shoulders.
“Joe Biden is the first president in my lifetime to ever come into office and intentionally unsecure the border,” Homan said. “And don’t think for a second that he didn’t do so purposefully and with total understanding of what would happen.”
The conflict between Texas and the federal government reached a breaking point in January 2024. The Texas Military Department and Department of Public Safety seized federal land in Eagle Pass, physically blocking illegal entry points. The Biden administration threatened the state for simply doing what Washington refused to do.
Abbott didn’t flinch.
“President Biden has instructed his agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants,” Abbott said at the time. “I have already declared an invasion to invoke Texas’ constitutional authority to defend and protect itself. That authority is the supreme law of the land.”
Van Duyne said Texas never should have needed to spend this money. She credited state Republicans in Congress with fighting for the reimbursement legislation.
“We are grateful to the President and the Administration for not only locking down our borders, enforcing our laws, empowering ICE and CBP, but for compensating our state for these billions of dollars we should not have needed to spend in the first place,” Van Duyne said.
Abbott had requested more than $11.1 billion in January 2025. The approved amount, while substantial, leaves billions unrecovered.
Those criminals and drugs would have infiltrated cities and towns far beyond the Texas border if the state hadn’t acted. Families in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin are safer because Texas stood its ground.
