A massive immigration operation coordinated by the five field offices of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Texas concluded this Friday with 4,170 individuals detained in just ten days, as announced by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a press conference held in Dallas.
The operation, named 'Lone Star Mission', took place from October 19 to 29 and involved the offices in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, and Harlingen, with support from state and local law enforcement agencies. Dallas accounted for the highest number of arrests, with nearly 900 detentions.
"Thanks to the Texas law enforcement and our federal partners, during this operation we arrested murderers, sexual offenders, drunk drivers, and human traffickers," stated Markwayne Mullin, Secretary of Homeland Security, when presenting the results of the operation.
El operativo 'Lone Star Mission' es solo uno de los muchos desarrollos que marcan el panorama migratorio actual. Sigue todos los detalles sobre arrestos, deportaciones y políticas de ICE en nuestra sección de
The official described the mission as an "incredible success" and directly linked it to the leadership of President Donald Trump: "Thanks to President Trump, ICE has been completely unleashed to go after illegal criminal aliens and make America safe again."
However, the DHS's own data reveals a more complex picture. According to the agency, approximately 60% of those detained had criminal records, implying that the remaining 40% —around 1,668 individuals— were not direct targets of the executed orders. Mullin described this group as "collateral damage" from the operation and justified their arrests by arguing that illegal entry into the country already constituted an offense: "Technically, they already had a criminal record," he stated.
The DHS did not publish a complete breakdown of the backgrounds or convictions of the 4,170 detainees. An investigation by the Houston Chronicle based on public information requests had previously revealed that most Texans arrested by ICE had no criminal convictions.
Among the cases highlighted by the DHS are Javier Hernández Alcón, a Mexican citizen deported twice before and arrested in Liberty on October 20, with convictions for burglary and illegal reentry; Orlando Aguilar, detained in Dallas on October 24 with convictions for aggravated assault under the influence of alcohol with a vehicle; and Ramón Antonio Martínez, a Honduran arrested in Houston on October 23 and wanted in his country in connection with an alleged homicide. Also captured was Víctor Manuel Macías-Castro, identified as a member of the Cártel La Línea, in El Paso.
Texas is the state with the highest number of ICE arrests in the country. Mullin reported that during the fiscal year 2026—from October 2025 to September of this year—the agency made over 136,000 arrests in the state, a figure that reflects the intensity of the immigration policy under the Trump administration. By October 2026, more than 29,000 local police officers were collaborating with ICE in Florida and Texas through agreements under the 287(g) program.
“They will continue to see those types of specific actions, but we work as hard as we can with the resources we have,” Mullin warned when asked about the continuation of such operations.
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