Markwayne Mullin Announces 4,170 Arrests in Texas Immigration Operation
A 10-day statewide immigration enforcement operation in Texas resulted in 4,170 arrests, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin announced Thursday in Dallas, according to NBC DFW reporting.
Lone Star Mission Records 4,170 Arrests
The joint enforcement initiative, designated as the Lone Star Mission, brought together federal immigration officers and local Texas sheriff’s offices and police departments. Of the 4,170 total arrests recorded across the state, 879 took place in North Texas. Federal officials reported that more than 60 percent of the individuals taken into custody possessed criminal backgrounds. These records include convictions for murder, sexual assault, drunken driving, and immigrant smuggling.
“They should have never been on our streets. We were able to make the Lone Star State safer,” Mullin said during Thursday’s announcement.
Flanked by Enforcement and Removal Operations field office directors from Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, and Harlingen, Mullin explained that the operation allowed agents to locate individuals who had eluded apprehension due to prior resource constraints. Agents mapped out patterns of daily life to verify residential and workplace locations before executing warrants.
Authorities Detain Collateral Criminals Without Records
Federal authorities confirmed that 40 percent of those arrested during the 10-day sweep did not carry criminal records. Mullin categorized these individuals as “collateral criminals.” “They may not been the target, but they were in the vehicle, they were in a house, or wherever the warrant was served at,” Mullin said.
Specific enforcement actions targeted individuals with outstanding warrants in coordination with local agencies. In Dallas, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took Mexican national Orlando Aguilar into custody on a Saturday. Aguilar’s prior convictions include felony intoxication assault involving a vehicle that caused serious bodily injury, alongside driving while intoxicated charges.
Federal Targeted Operations Will Persist
The recent operation builds upon a broader enforcement window spanning the previous year. Texas Enforcement and Removal Operations officers took more than 136,000 criminals into custody between October 2025 and September 30, 2026.
When questioned about the trajectory of immigration enforcement over the upcoming two years, Mullin indicated that targeted operations will persist within the limits of available federal resources.