By: Julianna Russ, Anna Wiernicki, Robert Sims | KXAN News

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nexstar) — The Texas Rangers started protecting the Lone Star State even before Texas joined the union.

“They captured bandits and burglars solve some of the most complicated criminal cases to ever exist,” Texas Republican Congressman Brian Babin said.

Babin joined his colleagues on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to celebrate the state’s oldest law enforcement agency’s 200th anniversary.

Congressman Michael Burgess said since the Rangers were created in 1823, they have captured outlaws and stopped an assassination attempt against President William Howard Taft. Now, as members of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Rangers continue to fight crime and corruption in their iconic cowboy hats.

“When the Texas Rangers came on the case, those of us who were just regular citizens felt like the situation was under control,” Burgess said.

On Wednesday, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz honored the Rangers on the senate floor by introducing a resolution to pay tribute to their two centuries of service.

“The Rangers are always ready to step in and serve,” Cruz said.

Texas Ranger Captain James Thomas joined lawmakers saying the Rangers were still the frontline of the Texas frontier, leading the state’s border security program and providing direct support to us border patrol.

“We have 1,254 miles of border,” Thomas said. “The Texas Rangers have with Mexico that we’ve had an opportunity to serve and protect that border that we still do today.”

The Texas State Historical Association documents that in 1823 Stephen F. Austin hired ten frontiersmen as “Rangers” for leading an expedition against a band of Indigenous people. Then, in 1835, the Texas Rangers were created as a permanent force of three divisions totaling 56 men.