“So Much Blood on the Ground”: Dangerous and Deadly Vehicle Pursuits under Texas’ Operation Lone Star

By Norma Herrera. et al

In March 2021, the US state of Texas established a far-reaching and abusive border militarization program called Operation Lone Star, which remains in effect. One part of this initiative incentivizes Texas state troopers and other law enforcement personnel to engage in dangerous and deadly high speed vehicle pursuits, seeking to apprehend drivers suspected of transporting unauthorized migrants, as well as the migrant passengers themselves. “So Much Blood on the Ground” finds that at least 74 people were killed and 189 injured due to vehicle pursuits in the 60 Texas counties that participated in Operation Lone Star between March 2021 and July 2023. During those 28 months, 7 bystanders were killed, including a seven-year-old girl. The pursuits can be reckless: One-third of the pursuits involved speeds over 100 miles per-hour. In interviews for this report, current and former Texas law enforcement personnel explained that there are ways to apprehend suspects without chasing them in vehicles. In this report and elsewhere, Human Rights Watch has extensively documented the impact of Operation Lone Star, finding the program has increased racial profiling of border residents and consistently violated other rights of migrants and asylum seekers as well as US citizens. Texas should dismantle Operation Lone Star and end deadly vehicle pursuits. Until that happens, the US federal government should cease funding agencies implementing Operation Lone Star and send civil rights officials to investigate violations of civil and human rights under the program, including the most fundamental human right of all: the right to life  

New York: Human Rights Watch,  2023. 78p.