Texas continues to build more border barriers in the face of a historic crisis of unlawful migration while the legislature considers new laws in response to a special session call.
“Texas is the only state in U.S. history to build our own border wall,” Gov. Greg Abbott explained. “While Biden refuses to secure the border, Texas has stepped up to protect our state and our country.”
“I added funding for even more border wall to the agenda for Special Session #3 of the Texas Legislature,” he added.
As reported by The Dallas Express, Abbott reconvened the legislature for the third time since the end of the regular session to consider passing laws to increase the state penalties for people entering the state unlawfully and empowering Texas law enforcement to deport people.
So far, the Senate has passed several of the requested bills, while the House has just begun holding public hearings on the items.
The cost of unlawful migration has been highlighted in a recent review by the Huffines Liberty Foundation, as reported by The Dallas Express, which suggested, “Abandoning the U.S.-Mexico border costs Texas taxpayers billions of dollars per year in expenditures by the Texas and federal governments.”
“Ending these expenditures must start with reestablishing and securing the national border between the United States and Mexico, particularly in Texas,” the report concluded.
Gov. Abbott further explained the border crisis at a recent speech in Irving, attended by The Dallas Express, where he slammed President Joe Biden for ushering in what he called an era of historic mass migration.
“In each of the past two years under Joe Biden, we had a Houston, Texas, [around 2.4 million people] come across the border who isn’t apprehended,” he explained. “That is completely unsustainable, and that’s exactly why Texas has taken measures that no state has ever taken in the history of the United States to try to do something to secure the border.”
He also highlighted that barriers were now being constructed along the Texas-New Mexico border to prevent unlawful migrants from simply entering the neighboring state before crossing into Texas.
Despite such efforts, federal law enforcement officers at the direction of the Biden administration have taken steps to assist migrants in circumventing deterrents placed by Texas.
“We literally are at war with the White House, fighting to secure our own border,” Abbott suggested.
“You would think Joe Biden would maybe thank me in a thank you note, send me a check or something like that,” the governor quipped. “What he sent to me instead was a lawsuit that shows the war that we are in. The name of the lawsuit is United States of America v. Greg Abbott.”
The Texas Military Department and Texas Department of Public Safety have worked to stem the tide of unlawful migration through Abbott’s Operation Lone Star.
“The Texas Military Department is ready to use all assets available to surge our troops on Operation Lone Star wherever they may be needed,” the group recently said. “Our personnel remain at the ready for whenever duty calls.”
However, Abbott’s efforts to increase border security have been criticized by his political opponents.
Former representative and unsuccessful senatorial candidate and governor choice, Robert O’Rourke, slammed Abbott, saying, “This gauntlet of cruelty — the buses, the razor wire, the walls, the drowning traps — are just his attempt to win a spot on Fox News and to distract us from his massive failures as governor.”
“Until Republicans in Congress are willing to help rewrite our immigration laws to match the challenges and opportunities we face, we should encourage President Biden to move forward on: More safe legal and orderly avenues to apply for asylum,” he added, “so that those fleeing violence and persecution have an option beyond crossing dangerous stretches of the desert and river.”
While politicians squabble over the proper response, tensions at the border have continued to heat up. As reported by The Dallas Express, armed cartel squads were recently observed patrolling the Mexican side of Fronton Island — a 170-acre border island reclaimed earlier this month by Texas troops to stop illegal cartel activity.
