Federal immigration authorities announced Thursday in Dallas that a statewide enforcement operation across Texas led to more than 4,170 arrests over a 10-day period. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin made the announcement flanked by Enforcement and Removal Operations field office directors from across the state.
The operation, known as Lone Star Mission, was carried out through coordinated partnerships between federal immigration officers and local Texas sheriff’s offices and police departments. Mullin stated that more than 60% of those taken into custody had prior criminal records including convictions for murder, sexual assault, drunk 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 the Dallas announcement.
Of the total arrests statewide, 879 took place in North Texas alone. Among those arrested in Dallas was Orlando Aguilar, a Mexican national taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Aguilar had prior convictions including felony intoxication assault involving a vehicle causing serious bodily injury and driving while intoxicated.
Mullin acknowledged that roughly 40% of those arrested had no criminal history. He referred to these individuals as “collateral criminals” explaining that they were present at locations where warrants were being served but were not the primary targets of enforcement actions.
Mullin said officers had been tracking many of the targeted individuals for an extended period but previously lacked the resources to conduct thorough surveillance and locate them. The operation gave agents the ability to establish patterns of movement and identify where subjects lived and worked.
Authorities also reported that Texas Enforcement and Removal Operations officers took more than 136,000 individuals with criminal backgrounds into custody between October 2025 and September 30 2026 as part of broader enforcement efforts statewide.
When asked whether residents of North Texas and across the country should expect continued immigration enforcement activity in the coming years Mullin confirmed that targeted operations would press forward. He noted that the pace of enforcement would depend on available agency resources.