Operation Lone Star Realities: Continued Successes, Record Number of Dead

A Border Patrol officer processes a migrant woman who crossed the Rio Grande into the U.S. in Roma, Texas, on May 5, 2022. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Texas law enforcement officers working through the state’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star, continue to thwart human smuggling activity as U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported a record number of deaths of illegal crossers in fiscal 2022.

Law enforcement, working with Border Patrol agents, found 856 dead bodies of individuals who’d illegally entered the U.S. and likely died from the natural elements. The number of deaths of illegal foreign nationals reported in fiscal 2022 outpaced the record set in fiscal 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports.