AUSTIN, Texas — A state police helicopter deployed to the southern border by Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) crashed near the U.S.-Mexico boundary Thursday evening, the Washington Examiner has learned.

A Texas Department of Public Safety single-engine helicopter carrying two crew members went down after sunset around 7:20 p.m. local time while conducting a border interdiction patrol fight as part of Operation Lone Star, a Texas DPS spokeswoman wrote in an email late Thursday.