Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
The Texas Senate on Thursday approved a proposal that would create a homeland security division within the state’s Department of Public Safety to focus on immigration enforcement, organized crime and protecting the state’s infrastructure from security risks.
If passed into law, Senate Bill 36 would make Texas’ immigration enforcement efforts a permanent part of the state’s criminal justice system. SB 36, which passed in the Senate on a 26-4 vote, will now go before the state House of Representatives.
For the past four years, Texas legislators have plowed more than $11 billion into Operation Lone Star, Gov. Greg Abbott’s ongoing border crackdown that deployed state police and Texas National Guard along the state’s nearly 1,300 miles of border with Mexico.
OLS, launched shortly after Joe Biden’s presidency began, also paid to build sections of border wall, deploy miles of razor wire along the Rio Grande and open facilities to house National Guard troops and process apprehended migrants.
After peaking at the end of 2023, migrant apprehensions at the border began to drop last year after Biden created programs that allowed people to enter the U.S. legally and have reached historically small numbers since President Trump took office and shut down asylum claims by migrants.
But even more enforcement is needed, said state Sen. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, the bill’s sponsor. He added that the state needs its own homeland security office because it would “safeguard our border, our residents and our economic engines.
“It strikes the right balance between providing for our security and respecting the roles of our local and federal partners,” Parker said.
Some Democrats questioned why the state needs its own Homeland Security Division if the federal Department of Homeland Security is already responsible for protecting the country’s infrastructure and curtailing illegal immigration.
“Are everyday Texans the target of these folks, or who is the target of this new Homeland Security Division?” asked Sen. José Menendez, D-San Antonio.
Parker said the intent is not to create more policing of Texas residents but to centralize the Department of Public Safety’s functions into one division that could help streamline intelligence.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick designated SB 36 among his top priorities for the legislative session.
“By creating a Homeland Security Division within DPS, we can centralize vital homeland security operations within DPS, resulting in a better prepared and protected Texas,” Patrick said in a statement after the bill was passed.
According to a fiscal report on the bill, SB 36 would allow the state to hire 23 full time employees for the new division, which could cost $7 million by August 2027.
Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas’ breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Get tickets before May 1 and save big! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Learn about The Texas Tribune’s policies, including our partnership with The Trust Project to increase transparency in news.
