FORT WORTH — Gov. Greg Abbott gave the keynote speech at the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas 2024 Annual Training Conference & Expo in Fort Worth on Tuesday, focusing on the border crisis and supporting law enforcement.
Speaking on the final day of the four-day event attended by sheriffs and other county, state, and federal law enforcement officials, the governor emphasized the danger posed by illegal drugs pouring across the border.
“About 100% of the sheriffs, 100% of the counties have had to deal with the deadly consequences of fentanyl infiltrating into your county,” Abbott said.
“Sometimes, it is being smuggled through your county; sometimes, it is being smuggled to your county; regardless, the consequences and battles you have to face are more consequential because of that deadly fentanyl,” he acknowledged.
Abbott said the amount of fentanyl seized since the launch of Operation Lone Star “is almost incomprehensible,” noting more than half a billion lethal doses have been confiscated thanks to sheriff departments and other law enforcement agencies in the state.
The governor highlighted Operation Lone Star’s success in combating illegal immigration and human smuggling in the state.
“Illegal immigration has gone down 74%. Those are results that Texans want to see. More numbers. All of us working together have made more than 45,000 criminal arrests of known criminals who crossed into our state or who came into our state and committed crimes,” he said.
“We made more than 21,000 human smuggling charges. This became such a serious problem where our fellow Texans were being enticed by the cartels over social media devices, like TikTok, to be paid money to smuggle in and move around our state illegal immigrants.”
“This past year, working with legislators, I signed a law making it a mandatory minimum of 5-10 years behind bars for anybody caught human smuggling of illegal immigrants into our State,” Abbott said.
He added that the state had apprehended more than half a million illegal aliens.
Abbott thanked the sheriffs for their work to keep Texas safe.
“It takes an extraordinary human being to be willing to put their life on the line to make sure that others are protected and that communities are safe,” he told the crowd of more than 500 peace officers. “As sheriffs, you have always stepped up to make our state and communities a safer place. I thank you for your hard work. I thank you for your dedication. I thank you for your courage.”
Following his speech, Abbott was presented with an award by the Western States Sheriffs’ Association in recognition of the actions Texas has taken to secure the border under his leadership.
“I want to thank you for supporting the rule of law, especially the sheriffs of Texas,” said Corey Helton, immediate past president and executive board member of the Western States Sheriffs’ Association.