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Secretary Mullin Announces Operation Lone Star Mission Results in Dallas: Over 4,100 Arrests in 10 Days

October 30, 2026 · U.S. Department of Homeland Security · 0:48:31

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What happened

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters in Dallas that Operation Lone Star Mission, a 10-day Texas-wide enforcement effort, took more than 4,100 people off the streets in the operation, with over 60 percent of those arrested having a criminal background, according to the Department of Homeland Security press conference. Mullin said the mission showed what federal, state, county and local cooperation can do, and he contrasted it with sanctuary policies, which he said create safe havens for criminals.

Mullin said that since President Trump took office, authorities have arrested 2,168 terrorists who had been let into the country under the previous administration, and he credited enforcement with pushing murder rates to what he called a 126-year low and fentanyl overdoses into decline, as stated in his remarks. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Dallas Field Office Director Miguel Vara said all five Texas ERO field offices — Dallas, El Paso, Harlingen, Houston and San Antonio — worked together, and he cited the case of Orlando Aguilar, a previously removed noncitizen with a felony intoxication assault conviction, as an example of the targets, according to the press conference.

Mullin also said the officers standing behind him had taken 136,481 criminals off the streets in the last fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), about 60 percent with serious criminal backgrounds, as stated in his remarks. In questions, he said the remaining roughly 40 percent of mission arrests were what he called collateral arrests of people found with targets, defended the 287(g) program as a reimbursement and cooperation tool, and said repeat deportees to Mexico can be caught again within days, which is why the department is pursuing third-country removal options, according to the press conference.

Why it matters

The Dallas announcement is the administration’s detailed public accounting of a surge-style, whole-of-Texas ICE operation, with the arrest totals and criminal-background shares the department is using to make its case for state and local cooperation.

Scoreboard watch

According to Secretary Mullin, Operation Lone Star Mission produced more than 4,100 arrests in 10 days, over 60 percent of them people with criminal backgrounds — figures that can be checked against ICE’s published enforcement statistics as they are updated.

Sources: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Secretary Mullin to Hold Press Conference Highlighting the Success of Operation Lone Star Mission”, 2026-10-30 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-10-30). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.