Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is directing his state to immediately begin building border barriers in areas where migrants have been pouring over the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The influx across the border is out of control, and the Biden administration has shown that is not going to step up and do its job,” Abbott told Breitbart Texas before a border summit he convented in Del Rio, Texas, on Thursday. “And amidst reports of even more people coming in across the border, we know we have to step up and do more.”
The governor picked Del Rio as the location for the summit because of the massive increase in illegal crossings in the sector.
Agents apprehended 27,890 migrants in the Del Rio sector, a 1,118 percent increase over the May 2020 report of 2,289, Breitbart reported.
“The reason why we are here is because of the massive increase,” Abbott said.
He recounted that border crossings used to be concentrated in the Rio Grande Valley.
However, “Now, you know we’re upstream from the Rio Grande Valley in the Del Rio Sector and the Del Rio Sector is suffering from some of the largest increases.”
Abbott said those entering his state without authorization put themselves in legal jeopardy.
“If you come to Texas, you’re subject to being arrested. You’re not going to have a pathway to roam the country. You’re going to have a pathway directly into a jail cell,” the governor said.
Concerning the placement of border barriers, Abbott explained that they serve the functions of being both a physical deterrent and a means to charge people with crimes.
“If [migrants] move or interfere with that barrier, they have committed several crimes,” he said, including criminal mischief, vandalism of state property and criminal trespass.
Customs and Border Protection reported that over 180,000 people were apprehended attempting to enter the country illegally through the southwest border in May.
In May, CBP encountered more than 180,000 persons attempting entry along the SW border. This total represents a 1% increase over April.
Press release: https://t.co/IoniQDIuHT
Enforcement stats: https://t.co/AcdShCXjDS
SW Land Border Encounters: https://t.co/i3vbVkLjpB pic.twitter.com/ATyXFDOe5T— CBP (@CBP) June 9, 2021
That is a 21-year high.
Abbott issued a disaster declaration earlier this month due to the border crisis.
“President Biden’s open-border policies have paved the way for dangerous gangs and cartels, human traffickers, and deadly drugs like fentanyl to pour into our communities,” he said in a June 1 statement.
“Meanwhile, landowners along the border are seeing their property damaged and vandalized on a daily basis while the Biden Administration does nothing to protect them. Texas continues to step up to confront the border crisis in the federal government’s absence, but more must be done.”
Abbott told Breitbart Texas the federal government will have to change its policies for the crisis to be fully addressed.
“In the end, only the federal government and Congress can fix this,” he said, “but as it stands right now, the state of Texas is going to step up and we’re going to start making arrests — sending a message to anybody thinking about coming here, you’re not going to get a free pass to the U.S. They’re getting a straight pass to a jail cell.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
