With Washington’s abandonment of border wall construction this year and the ensuing flood of illegal migrants coming across Texas’ border with Mexico, Governor Greg Abbott has decided the state will take matters into its own hands.
In June, Abbott convened a Border Security Summit of state officials, at which he announced the formation of the Governor’s Task Force on Border and Homeland Security, consisting of representatives from his office and that of the state attorney general, state law enforcement agencies, emergency management, parks and wildlife, and others. The mission of the Task Force is to “analyse and advise on strategies to stem the flow of unlawful immigrants and illegal contraband into Texas.”
Abbot authorized initial funding of $250 million to finance the state’s border protection efforts and deployed 6,500 Texas Highway Patrol troopers and Texas Army National Guardsmen to the region. He next sent a letter to the White House, demanding the return of any property originally taken by the federal government for the purpose of building a wall the federal government then decided not to build. In it, he informed the WH that Texas would build its own wall.
Bids went out and the state began the complex process required of a major government initiative. But bureaucratic red tape being what it is, progress toward wall construction did not keep up in the ensuing months with the smuggling cartels and migrants. Attracted by a newly welcoming federal government, hordes of migrants rushed to our southern border, resulting in the disaster at Del Rio, Texas, in September, where 15,000-16,000 migrants within a few days overwhelmed the CBP. That crisis drove home the need for haste. An additional $1.8 billion was provided by the state legislature, and the engineering firm of Michael Baker & Huitt-Zollars Joint Venture was hired to manage border wall construction.
Construction has since begun, and Abbot announced on October 28 that some portions of it should be in place “within a couple of months.” In the meantime, he said workers were installing miles of razor wire along vulnerable stretches, and dozens of empty shipping containers began being placed along the border at Eagle Pass, a favorite crossing point for illegals, to act as a barrier before the wall itself is completed. Meanwhile, Abbott initiated what he calls the “catch and jail” policy whereby illegal migrants crossing the border would be arrested and jailed for trespass.
Migration proceeds apace, and the wheels of government turn slowly, but at the very least Texas is stepping up to honor a responsibility defaulted upon by Washington. For those interested, the state is accepting donations toward its wall at https://www.borderwall.texas.gov/.
For more, see Breitbart News.