Despite being an eight-hour drive from the Texas-Mexico border, Hopkins County is the latest rural community to make a disaster declaration driven by an overwhelming influx of unlawful migrants.
Citing an “invasion” of unlawful migrants, the Hopkins County commissioners declared a “local state of disaster” in the region. The resolution was signed last month by Hopkins County Judge Robert Newsom at a county commissioners’ meeting in Sulphur Springs, roughly 90 miles northeast of Dallas.
The declaration stated that “[t]he health, safety and welfare of Hopkins County residents are under an imminent threat of disaster from the unprecedented levels of illegal immigration, human trafficking, and drug smuggling coming across the U.S. border from Mexico.”
Hopkins County is not the first in Texas to make such a declaration. Kinney County, which sits along the border with Mexico between Del Rio and Eagle Pass, declared a disaster in April 2021, as The Dallas Express previously reported. The county stated that the measure was prompted by a surge of “thousands of illegal aliens invading” the state.
A broader disaster declaration followed from Gov. Greg Abbott in May 2021. The resolution granted the governor emergency powers typically reserved for natural disasters, like floods.
The resolution ultimately helped Gov. Abbott fund his border strategy, Operation Lone Star, to the tune of billions of dollars.
Since spring 2021, no less than 33 counties in Texas have adopted border-crossing resolutions, according to the non-profit news publication The Center Square.
Many other resolutions are predominantly symbolic in nature, but a disaster declaration has the potential to prompt support from the state.
Disaster declarations can help counties source funding to support law enforcement via Gov. Abbott’s Operation Lone Star grant program. Since its announcement in September 2021, $130 million has been allocated through the grant program.
While Hopkins County was explicit in its local disaster declaration, other counties have opted for softer language while still expressing support for federal border assistance programs and Operation Lone Star.
Jay Knight, county judge for Liberty County, roughly 250 miles south of Dallas, said they enacted a “very expensive” resolution in “an effort to help our congressman take the recognition of the problem to Washington and say ‘We need to step up.’”
Liberty County, with a population of roughly 98,000, has seen half of its 12 Department of Public Safety officers redeployed to assist along the Mexican border.
“Just because we aren’t on the border doesn’t mean we aren’t impacted,” Knight stressed.
Some counties, even those that support the governor’s initiative, have yet to carry out a declaration, citing no substantial uptick in problems originating from the border.
In certain instances, like with Angelina County, local officials oppose the language they have seen drafted in other resolutions.
“The border situation needs to be resolved, but I don’t care for the invasion terminology,” said Angelina County Judge Keith Wright.
If his county ultimately considers a resolution next year, it will focus funding on local mental health initiatives and improving the criminal justice system, and less on direct border security.
It is estimated that Gov. Abbott’s border initiative has cost the state roughly $4 billion to date.
