Texas Governor Greg Abbott says the Biden administration’s response to the latest wave in the South is “a day late and tens of thousands of soldiers short.”
Through Operation Lone Star, troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas National Guard, and local law enforcement continue to investigate the smuggling and trafficking of people, drugs, and weapons, and transnational criminal activity between ports of entry resulting from illegal entry from Mexico prohibit.
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Since Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021, OLS agents have apprehended more than 373,000 illegal aliens and made more than 28,000 criminal arrests with more than 25,000 felony charges. They also seized more than 402 million lethal doses of fentanyl, enough to kill more than anyone in the United States.
The Biden administration’s “complete refusal to enforce federal immigration laws” has created a national security crisis, Abbott argues.
“It wasn’t until President Biden took office and abolished all those policies and put down a welcome mat for the whole world that all of a sudden we got this chaos,” he said. told Fox News Sunday. “President Biden is sending 1,500 soldiers to the border to do paperwork. That’s not going to secure the border. We don’t need 1,500 soldiers; we need 15,000 or 150,000 to secure the border because of the Biden administration’s open borders policy. This is a day late and tens of thousands of soldiers short.”
A while ago, Abbott deployed several hundred Texas National Guard tactical troops to El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley. They successfully blocked access to areas along the Rio Grande River by using concertina wire and other tactical maneuvers. They were able to do this in collaboration with DPS block illegal entry between ports of entry.
The Texas Tactical Border Force continues to build barriers to deter illegal migrants along the Rio Grande River. pic.twitter.com/8oWHAiUVhb
— Texas Military Department (@TXMilitary) May 11, 2023
RELATED: Texas National Guard and DPS block illegal entry south of El Paso Port of Entry
In another interview with Fox News, Abbott said“Last December outside El Paso there was a long line of migrants trying to get in,” referring to when the city previously declared a state of emergency and he sended 400 troops there to help restore order. “We built a huge barbed wire wall that is now 30 kilometers long. Overnight, the migrants stopped flowing at that location to El Paso. We have seen this work and we will repeat it as often as possible along the border.”
DPS agents in Texas continue to arrest smugglers, most recently a Ukrainian woman trying to smuggle Hondurans into the country. She was apprehended in Val Verde County.
After making a traffic stop, the troopers discovered five Hondurans in her car. The Ukrainian, and a Houston man who was in the passenger seat, said they were paid $1,500 each to smuggle them into San Antonio from the border. Instead, they were arrested and prosecuted for human trafficking.
At another recent traffic stop in Uvalde, officers seized 38 pounds of methamphetamine. After pulling over the driver of a Jeep Cherokee on Highway 90, numerous illegal aliens in the vehicle jumped out and ran into the thicket. Two were seen carrying black backpacks that were later recovered from the ground during a search with Border Police officers. They discovered 38 pounds of methamphetamine in the backpacks. It is uncertain how many people escaped and how many drugs the escapees also carried.
The driver, who is from Houston, was arrested and is facing criminal charges for people smuggling and involvement in organized crime.
In neighboring Kinney County, DPS troopers conducted a high-speed chase on Highway 90, pursuing a driver who stole a white pickup truck. He drove through a gate into a private lot and continued over bushes until the truck got stuck. Nine illegal aliens, all of whom appeared to be single men of military age, jumped out of the boat and ran.
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Air Operations Division of DPS followed them through the air, keeping them in view as they ran. The driver, from Round Rock, took off his shirt as he ran, but was eventually apprehended and held at gunpoint until he lay down and was handcuffed. He was later charged with human smuggling. In the end, nine illegal aliens were caught and apprehended by Border Patrol.
Despite the Biden administration claiming that the border is closed and willing to send as many people as possible to the US, Abbott argues that the administration is solely responsible for creating a national security crisis.
He recently tweeted: “[President] Joe Biden’s open border policy has led to record-breaking levels of illegal immigration. Texans — and Americans — have had enough of his lies about the border crisis. Stop the chaos. Biden MUST do his constitutional duty and secure the border.”
Since last year, Texas has brought more than 17,000 illegal aliens to four sanctuary cities. This includes more than 9,200 to Washington, DC, more than 1,600 to Chicago, more than 5,700 to New York City, and more than 925 to Philadelphia as of May 12.
Syndicated with permission from the Center Square.
