A Constellation of Resistance: Report from the Operation Lone Star Convening
By Jordan Buckley
In April, several dozen grassroots organizers, lawyers and individuals harmed by border militarization — coming from numerous corners of Texas as well as Arizona, Georgia and Florida — hunkered together for three days in San Antonio for the Operation Lone Star (OLS) Convening, coordinated by Organiza Texas and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
It was the first time since OLS was enacted by Governor Greg Abbott in 2021 that such a broad swath of statewide movement participants gathered to discuss long-term strategic approaches that can be collectively undertaken to combat rising criminalization of Texas immigrant communities.
The convening opened with a dinner, where Carlos Garcia, former Executive Director of the Puente Human Rights Movement and a Phoenix City Council member, spoke about the years of resistance efforts by people in Arizona, beating back anti-immigrant policies and politicians through coalition-building and tactical experimentation.
The parallels between Arizona and Texas are many: the ratcheting up of increasingly more antisocial state legislation as extremist ideas normalize; the cowardice and complicity of Democrats in advancing Republican-driven racist agendas; and, the arrival of a “Ya Basta” moment, when the intolerability of conditions spur formation of alliances between groups with serious beef but whose hatred of an enemigo común, a common enemy, overpowers their mutual antipathy.
And it perfectly framed, through the lived-experience context of admirable, persistent work undertaken by Carlos and others in Arizona, the essential conversations to come by those in attendance for the days that followed.
Seasoned organizers from around Texas were joined by brilliant residents from El Paso, Eagle Pass, Laredo, Brackettville and the Rio Grande Valley, whose first-hand insights contributed mightily to understanding the stakes of the escalating rush toward a crim/imm police state, as shepherded by Abbott; his acolytes (waterboy politicos in his party and on the border); and his armed henchmen (the Orwellian-named Department of Public Safety).
My wife loves Tarot; from her I’ve learned about the Pentacles and Tower. But it was the Tentacles of Power that occupied much of our Day 2: understanding the ways in which Texas’s governor, pictorially represented as an evil octopus, wields influence to push forward his white-supremacist, power-grubbing agenda.
Through a series of breakout groups to analyze the state legislature and local extremists afforded us the opportunity to mine the wisdom and discernments of attendees in order to dissect the sources of Abbott’s potency, but it also importantly enabled critical community-building.
(For the past seven years — last year with vital support from ILRC — we’ve hosted a weekend of social justice-themed cinema in San Marcos at the Lost River Film Fest that attracts dozens of crim/imm organizers, and the ability for advocates to meet one another, swap stories and forge genuine relationships is an invaluable component of a durable statewide movement. Several hours of intimate break-out conversations with astoundingly talented organizers at this OLS convening — fellow Texans who tackle identical injustices to us, but several hundred miles from where we live — provided that same restorative sense of fulfillment and connectedness.
We were fortunate to have attorney/activist/author Kung Li Sun at the helm, guiding these strategic conversations as well as hosting a fabulous training the final day on communications strategies: how to pithily stake a claim as well as shrewdly produce effective counter-narratives to the OLS perpetrators.
A beautiful feature of the convening, too, was the creative energy emanating throughout — from justice anthems sung as a group to a canvas-bag-decorating competition. An impromptu gallery of our satchel art demonstrated a tremendous imaginativeness in our movement that will motor our communities toward liberation, despite the best intentions of the MAGA megalomaniacs. (I hold no — okay, maybe a tad — resentment against Rebecca of Organiza Texas, who as contest judge inexplicably snubbed my “Stop D.P.S.: Developing Police State” bag design in favor of a far artistically and conceptually superior one, but whatevs…)
Extremely impressive were the materials supplied to us by organizers prior to arrival: in particular, the Power Analysis Guiding Document, a result of 50+ in-depth interviews with folks enmeshed in fighting Operation Lone Star, from organizers to attorneys to elected officials. A profound, illuminating, far-flung listening tour, encapsulated into a 10-page document, rife with expert perspective. Never seen anything like it.
RETURNING HOME TO DECLARE OPERATION LONE STAR THE DISASTER
A few thoughts on the impact of the OLS Strategy Convening for our organization, Caldwell/Hays Examiner (CHE) based in San Marcos.
As a co-founder of Mano Amiga — a 501(c)3 organizing around criminalization and immigration in the less-urban and less-organized corridor between Austin and San Antonio — together with several individuals in Mano Amiga leadership, I started CHE in 2022 as a 501(c)4 movement-adjacent hyper-local publication. For years, at Mano Amiga we pitched stories to mainstream media outlets, hoping for accurate and empathetic coverage, with mixed success.
At the OLS Strategy Convening, I was able to distribute copies of our new alt-monthly print edition and get feedback from respected folks in the movement — compliments on our leftist crossword puzzle; appreciation for our SB4-laser-focused questionnaire for State Rep candidates; etc.
I relished the opportunity to learn more about progressive narrative work underway by Trucha in the Valley (as a c3) and to learn of efforts afoot in San Antonio to launch a left-leaning c4 literary journal — the only other c4 movement publication we’ve ever heard about. Given our unique (and lonely!) model, I savored the chance to finally swap thoughts on the pros and cons of this pioneering prototype with someone now also exploring it; they too contemplate coordination with a sister c3 to remove large expenses from the c4 side.
CHE also returned home with a strong sense of direction of how we can contribute our grain of sand to the statewide movement as a justice-attuned regional publication — distributing 2,500 copies of our alt-monthly for free via 40+ newsstands across Hays and Caldwell counties.
- In Hays County, there is consideration by Commissioners Court of building a new DPS office in Precinct 1 — a possibility that we will now research, dutifully report on, and perhaps issue a scathing editorial on.
- Our outgoing Hays County Sheriff added his name to a public letter sent to Abbott in March on behalf of the Sheriff’s Association of Texas, whereby they “request that our dangerous, chaotic ‘Texas Border Emergency’ be officially declared a U.S. Constitutional Crisis and Crimes Against Humanity.” His decision to sign this extremist letter — and whether his successor would do the same — will definitely be a part of our candidate questionnaire for the forthcoming sheriff’s race, where the Republican he endorsed will face off with a progressive Dem who took over 49% in his 2020 loss.
- Also, we recently noticed Caldwell listed on Abbott’s April renewal of the border-security disaster declaration — one of those sycophant counties pretending they’re under threat. CHE has now filed public-information requests to learn how much state funding Caldwell County yielded as a consequence and whether they will be obligated to renew their own disaster declaration. Similarly, we will report what we find, and very plausibly publish an op/ed to call out the racist scapegoating and discouraging its renewal — or, better yet, passing a resolution to reverse its previous stance.
- In the lead-up to the November election — in which Republicans’ 4–1 hold on Caldwell Co Commissioners Court could feasibly flip to a 3–2 Democrat majority — we could imagine this disaster declaration meriting significant attention in our candidate questionnaires.
In short, the OLS Strategy Convening was an extraordinary moment to jolt forward momentum, community-building and coordination among Lone Star State organizers in resisting the mass-criminalization of immigrants. A constellation of resistance to Operation Lone Star. CHE, like the dozens of others who were fortunate to take part, returned home inspired, informed and — in the words of the luminous leadership of the Organiza Texas and ILRC — ready to Mess with Texas!
