Abbott spent years fortifying the Texas border. Hinojosa could undo it all

Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) spent more than five years and $11 billion fortifying the state’s 1,250-mile border with Mexico as millions of people came into the country unlawfully under the Biden administration, but those massive investments may be wiped away when Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa (D-TX) takes office in January.Border Patrol agents in Texas and immigration analysts are on edge as they wait to see how the progressive state House legislator will follow through on her campaign statements that disavowed support for how Abbott has sought to secure the border and allow the federal government to carry out immigration enforcement.Hinojosa has criticized the state’s cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, which was created in 2021 to bolster police presence at the international boundary and inside the state. In an October statement, Hinojosa said she would “put in the work to secure the border [and] not waste working Texans’ money on political theater.”However, Abbott’s actions at the border since 2021 go far beyond what Hinojosa has commented on, and everything, at least at the state level, is up for elimination come January 2027 when she is sworn in. Federal agents and outsiders react to Hinojosa win A Border Patrol agent in Texas who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Hinojosa’s election was a “punch in the gut” in terms of what it meant for federal agents.“Abbott was tough on crime especially on the smugglers … and it was always great working with other agencies,” the agent wrote in a text message on Thursday. “But I fear that now Texas will bar any law enforcement working with us like they do in California.”Ammon Blair, senior fellow for the conservative-leaning Texas Public Policy Foundation and a former decade-long Border Patrol agent, said he “100%” expects Hinojosa to overhaul the state’s plethora of initiatives at the border, setting Texas up for potential problems if cartels try to exploit the borders.The change in governors was not enough to concern the chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement, Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS), who contended that the federal government still controls the border.“Thanks to House Republicans’ historic reconciliation investments and the Trump Administration’s restoration of the rule of law, DHS has the tools and resources needed to keep our Southwest border secure,” Guest said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “As some at the state and federal levels try to undo the wins secured for the American people, the Republicans and the Trump Administration will fight to hold the line and will continue to put the safety of our citizens first.” A portion of border wall is under construction in the Big Bend region, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, near Sierra Blanca, Texas. (AP Photo/John Locher) A senior Border Patrol official in Texas said the job remains unchanged regardless of who is governor.“We’re all curious to see what the new administration’s approach to border security will be and whether we’ll continue receiving the same level of state support or see a complete 180,” the official wrote in a text message. “Regardless, the Border Patrol is nonpartisan. We’ve worked under both Republican and Democratic leadership, overcome challenges, and always adapted. Our oath is to the Constitution, and we’ll continue defending our homeland to the best of our ability with whatever resources we have.”Abbott’s actions How far Hinojosa chooses to go will depend on the extent that she believes Abbott went too far managing the historic number of immigrants who illegally came across the state’s border with Mexico.In January 2021, Biden halted hundreds of miles of border wall construction, barred ICE deportation officers from removals, and stopped requiring asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico, among other actions.Within weeks, the number of people apprehended crossing illegally between the ports of entry rose, particularly in Texas. Rolando Salinas, the Democratic mayor of the border city of Eagle Pass, told the Washington Examiner at the time that he had pleaded with the Biden White House for help as roughly 2,000 illegal immigrants were coming over the border in his town daily. He received no response from Washington. Migrants who crossed the Rio Grande and entered the United States from Mexico are lined up for processing by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) Abbott used state resources to enforce federal immigration laws that he said Biden was failing to uphold as Border Patrol agents intercepted more than 2 million illegal immigrants annually. Unlike Trump’s battles with blue states over immigration enforcement, Abbott attempted to force the federal government to enforce immigration laws.In March 2021, Abbott launched Operation Lone Star, a statewide initiative that sent more than 10,000 Texas Department of Public Safety state troopers and Texas National Guard members to the border to help Border Patrol catch smugglers moving immigrants across the river and detain illegal immigrants who slipped past federal agents. In addition, the Texas DPS had seized 859 million lethal doses of fentanyl as of Dec. 31, 2025.“The only state to ever build our own border wall, the only state to not only send thousands of Guard to the border to secure the border, but also we had so many down there,” Abbott said. “We built two military bases on the border to house thousands of National Guard troops, who also have worked to build hundreds of miles of razor border barrier and repel illegal immigrants back into Mexico.”The state held multiple emergency legislative sessions and passed Senate Bill 4, which the Supreme Court upheld, allowing state police to arrest illegal immigrants on federal charges.Abbott directed state military and police to transport any illegal immigrants they encountered to the closest port of entry to repatriate them to Mexico rather than turn them over to Border Patrol. As of January, more than 536,000 illegal immigrants have been encountered by state authorities, including more than 61,000 arrested on criminal charges.A former senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection official who asked to speak on the condition of anonymity said he anticipates SB4 “will likely be targeted for repeal during future state legislative sessions.”“Border infrastructure deployed by the state of Texas will likely be removed. Both served as a deterrence to illicit cross border activity,” the former official said. “Additionally, Texas law enforcement will likely be restricted from assisting with immigration enforcement activities. All these things helped shape a more secure border environment, which makes the job of a Border Patrol agent safer and more effective.” Workers continue to deploy large buoys to be used as a border barrier along the banks of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, Wednesday, July 12, 2023. The floating barrier is being deployed in an effort to block migrants from entering Texas from Mexico. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) The state put up 80 miles of border wall by the end of 2025 and installed just under half a mile worth of buoys in the river along Eagle Pass.Texas also offered voluntary bus transportation to nearly 120,000 migrants to six cities north of the southern border at a cost of $221 million.The end of the crisis and post-Biden Immigrants in Mexico began to bypass the Texas border to instead cross into Arizona and California in the wake of Abbott’s stepped-up enforcement. In 2021, 69% of illegal immigrant arrests across the southern border occurred in Texas, but that share fell to 34% in 2024.Since Biden left office, Abbott has continued to expand the state’s blueprint for border security. In February 2025, the state allowed roughly 600 National Guard members to be authorized by CBP to carry out select federal immigration enforcement.Texans are far less likely now to see DPS troopers lined up along the riverbanks, given that the number of people crossing illegally is much more manageable for Border Patrol. But in South and West Texas, troops remain on the roads looking for human smugglers, as well as tracking people on foot traversing the brush.Inside the state, local and state police may be deputized by federal immigration officers to help them detain and arrest illegal immigrants under what it known as the 287(g) program.Hinojosa’s ascension As a state House legislator, Hinojosa voted against the state’s sanctuary cities ban and has opposed deputizing state and local police to assist ICE. She also voted against making illegal border crossing a crime, which means the state-constructed concertina wire and river buoys could be pulled down.Blair suggested that federal funds given to the Texas governor’s office for distribution to local and state police who assist federal law enforcement at the border under the two-decade-old program, Operation Stonegarden, could also be halted by Hinojosa.“She can then direct the [State Administrative Agency] not to apply for the next Stonegarden cycle or apply for a reduced amount or attach conditions that discourage local participation,” Blair said.TEXAS GOP GRAPPLES WITH HISTORIC LOSSES AS DEMOCRATS EYE 2028Adam Isacson, director of defense oversight for the liberal immigrant advocacy organization the Washington Office for Latin America, suggested that the approaches Democratic governors in Arizona, California, and New Mexico have taken over the years have not led to serious problems that critics had suggested could occur.“If she does pull back some of the security, it does mean there’ll be less border security, but the number of agents or soldiers or police per mile right now along Texas’s border is so high that it might not even make a difference on the margins,” Isacson said.