Four members of the Texas National Guard are being disciplined, and their unit is being disbanded, after whistleblowers alleged they were using the WhatsApp communications platform to infiltrate and monitor illegal migrant and smuggler groups in violation of the organization's rules against spying operations, according to a joint report by the Texas Tribune and Military Times.
According to the report, six military intelligence officials assigned to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's Operation Lone Star National Guard deployment at the border turned over the names of four officers who were using WhatsApp to join migrant and smuggler chat groups to solicit assistance in investigating "targets" the unit identified to federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security during a February 2022 meeting.
Lt. Col. David "Eric" Tyler, Maj. Dezi J. Rios, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Eric E. Hack, and 1st Lt. Emmanuel L. Pierre are facing administrative discipline and saw the intelligence unit disbanded after the allegations that violated federal secrecy laws and the long-standing rules against state-run spying operations, the report said.
The Texas Military Department's inspector general told the news outlets in a statement that it investigated the whistleblower complaint, concluding in September 2022, but had not completed a final report on the matter or further discipline measures for the officers involved.
A source told the publications that the other intelligence unit members were folded into the operations section when it was disbanded in the fall of 2022.
The investigation by the inspector general found the scheme an "unauthorized foreign intelligence operation."
Abbott's office announced last week that the operation has apprehended more than 420,000 illegal migrants since the initiative launched in March 2021.
Those apprehensions include 33,600 criminal arrests with more than 30,500 felony charges reported and the confiscation of more than 426 million doses of the deadly drug fentanyl.
"Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps created by [President Joe] Biden's administration's refusal to secure the border," Abbott's office said in a press release Friday. "Every individual who is apprehended or arrested and every ounce of drugs seized would have otherwise made their way into communities across Texas and the nation due to President Joe Biden's open border policies."
Abbott was joined by last week by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to support the operation.
"These governors here with me today are deploying military and law enforcement officers to help Texas secure the border," Abbott said in the release. "We, as states, share an obligation and that's to step up and address this unparalleled catastrophe caused by President Biden."