Texas Gov. Abbott: ‘We Need 15,000 or 150,000’ Soldiers to Secure Border

admin May 15, 2023

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says the Biden administration’s response to the latest surge at the southern is “a day late and tens of thousands of soldiers too few.”

Through Operation Lone Star, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers, Texas National Guard and local law enforcement officers are continuing to interdict smuggling and trafficking of people, drugs and weapons, and transnational criminal activity between ports of entry stemming from illegal entry from Mexico.

Since Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021, OLS officers have apprehended more than 373,000 illegal foreign nationals and made more than 28,000 criminal arrests with over 25,000 felony charges reported. They’ve also seized more than 402 million lethal doses of fentanyl, enough to kill more than everyone in the United States.

The Biden administration’s “complete refusal to enforce federal immigration laws” has created a national security crisis, Abbott argues.

“Only when President Biden came into office and eliminated all those policies and laid down a welcome mat to the entire world that we suddenly have this chaos,” he told Fox News Sunday. “President Biden is sending 1,500 soldiers to the border to do paperwork. That is not going to secure the border. We need not 1,500 soldiers; we need 15,000 or 150,000 to secure the border because of the open border policies of the Biden Administration. This is a day late and tens of thousands of soldiers too few.”

A ago, Abbott deployed several hundred Texas National Guard tactical troops to El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley. They successfully blocked entry to areas along the Rio Grande River by using concertina wire and other tactical maneuvers. They, working with DPS, have been able to block illegal entry between ports of entry.

The Texas Tactical Border Force continues to work constructing barriers to deter illegal migrants along the Rio Grande River. pic.twitter.com/8oWHAiUVhb

— Texas Military Dept. (@TXMilitary) May 11, 2023

In another interview with Fox News, Abbott said, “Last December, there was a long line of migrants outside of El Paso trying to get in,” referring to when the city previously declared an emergency and he sent 400 troops there to help restore order. “We set up a massive razor wire wall that’s now 18 miles long. Overnight, the migrants stopped flowing at that location into El Paso. We’ve seen this work, and we’re going to repeat it as often as possible up and down the border.”

Texas DPS officers continue to apprehend human smugglers including, most recently, a Ukrainian woman attempting 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 man from Houston sitting in the passenger seat, said they were being paid $1,500 per person to smuggle them to San Antonio from the border. Instead, they were arrested and face criminal charges for human smuggling.

In another recent traffic stop in Uvalde, troopers seized 38 pounds of methamphetamine. After pulling over the driver of a Jeep Cherokee on Highway 90, numerous illegal foreign nationals inside the vehicle bailed out and ran towards the brush. Two were seen carrying black backpacks that were later recovered from the ground during a search with Border Patrol agents. They discovered 38 pounds of methamphetamine inside the backpacks. It’s uncertain how many people got away and how much drugs those who got away were also carrying.

The driver, from Houston, was arrested and faces criminal charges for human smuggling and engaging in organized crime.

In neighboring Kinney County, DPS troopers engaged in a high-speed chase on Highway 90, pursuing a driver who stole a white pickup truck. He drove through a fence onto private land and continued driving over shrubs until the truck got stuck. Nine illegal foreign nationals, who appeared to be all military-age single men, bailed out and ran away.

DPS’ Air Operations Division followed them by air and kept a visual on them as they ran. The driver, from Round Rock, took off his shirt as he ran away but was eventually apprehended and held at gunpoint until he laid down and was handcuffed. He was later charged with human smuggling. Ultimately, nine illegal foreign nationals were caught and apprehended by Border Patrol.

Despite the Biden administration claiming the border is closed and it’s prepared to process as many people into the U.S. as possible, Abbott argues the administration is solely to blame for creating a national security crisis.

He recently tweeted, “[President] Joe Biden’s open border policies have enticed 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 bused more than 17,000 illegal foreign nationals to four sanctuary cities. This includes more than 9,200 to Washington, D.C., over 1,600 to Chicago, over 5,700 to New York City, and more than 925 to Philadelphia as of May 12.

Syndicated with permission from the Center Square.

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