Report: Abbott's Texas border security effort fudges crime numbers
Gov. Greg Abbott has touted the success of his $3 billion effort to secure the Texas-Mexico border by claiming arrests and crimes that werent connected to the operation, according to a ProPublica investigation.
Why it matters: Operation Lone Star costs taxpayers more than $2.5 million a week and is a cornerstone of Abbotts gubernatorial campaign.
Driving the news: State leaders initially reported 11,000 criminal arrests in connection with the border operation but later removed more than 2,000 charges from the Operation Lone Star tally, including arrests for sexual assault, stalking and cockfighting.
Several former law enforcement officials told ProPublica the counts from Operation Lone Star dont allow the state to gauge what its accomplishing, largely because the tallies included 63 counties and work done with resources that were already in place.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-multibillion-dollar-border-operation-112055544.html