Official Summaries

Operation Lone Star Reimbursement Act

This bill allows Texas to receive reimbursement for expenses incurred from 2021 through 2025 related to securing the southern U.S. border. Texas must submit these expenses to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of the Treasury. DHS must review the submission within 120 days and determine which expenses are eligible for reimbursement. Treasury must pay such reimbursable expenses within 60 days. 

Current Full Text

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1222 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1222

 To reimburse the State of Texas for expenses incurred for activities 
conducted relating to securing the southern international border of the 
                 United States, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 11, 2025

 Mr. Williams of Texas (for himself, Mr. Crenshaw, Mr. Self, Mr. Weber 
 of Texas, Mr. Babin, Mr. Ellzey, Mr. Gill of Texas, and Mr. Luttrell) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
 the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
                        the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To reimburse the State of Texas for expenses incurred for activities 
conducted relating to securing the southern international border of the 
                 United States, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Operation Lone Star Reimbursement 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Federal Government is primarily responsible for 
        securing the borders of the United States at and between ports 
        of entry.
            (2) Due to the lack of border action by the Federal 
        Government from January 20, 2021, to January 19, 2025, the 
        State of Texas has been forced to continually appropriate funds 
        to secure the southern border of the United States.
            (3) Texas has taken these actions to help maintain safety 
        and security for all citizens across the United States by 
        protecting against the criminal acts of--
                    (A) human trafficking;
                    (B) sex trafficking;
                    (C) drug proliferation;
                    (D) illicit movement of weapons and contraband;
                    (E) criminal organizations; and
                    (F) unlawful entry.
            (4) In March 2021, the Governor of Texas launched Operation 
        Lone Star to combat these threats, resulting in--
                    (A) apprehension of over half a million illegal 
                immigrants;
                    (B) 140,000 attempted illegal entries denied;
                    (C) over 50,000 criminal arrests;
                    (D) the seizure of half a billion lethal doses of 
                fentanyl; and
                    (E) construction of over 240 miles of border 
                barriers.
            (5) The amount the State of Texas spent on border security 
        to combat the crisis at Texas' southern border was $11.1 
        billion of Texas taxpayer funding.

SEC. 3. REIMBURSEMENTS FOR THE STATE OF TEXAS.

    (a) Application for Reimbursement.--The Governor of Texas shall 
submit to the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of the 
Treasury an application for reimbursement, which shall include--
            (1) a list of expenses incurred by the State of Texas for 
        activities conducted relating to securing the southern 
        international border of the United States during the years 
        2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025; and
            (2) the total amount of expenses incurred for such 
        activities.
    (b) Application Review.--The Secretary of Homeland Security must 
review the State of Texas' application within 120 days after receival 
and determine what expenses that incurred are eligible for 
reimbursement and submit a report to Congress on the final decision.
    (c) Reimbursement.--Not later than 60 days after the Secretary of 
Homeland Security has submitted the reimbursement decision to Congress, 
the Secretary of the Treasury shall pay to the State of Texas, out of 
any amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, an amount equal 
to the total amount of expenses determined reimbursable.
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