Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has vowed that his state will construct a border wall with Mexico to discourage illegal immigrants from coming into the country through Texas. He said his government will commit $1 billion to border security, and that part of it will be used to build a wall with Mexico.
He said he will resume the US-Mexico border wall that former President Donald Trump began but which was stopped by President Joe Biden. According to Abbott, Biden shouldn’t have scrapped the “Remain in Mexico” policy which Trump contracted with Mexican President Andres Obrador. He said the program reduced the influx of Mexican immigrants into the United States through the southern border.
“The state is working collaboratively with communities impacted by the crisis to arrest and detain individuals coming into Texas illegally,” Abbott said. “Our efforts will only be effective if we work together to secure the border, make criminal arrests, protect landowners, rid our communities of dangerous drugs, and provide Texans with the support they need and deserve.”
The Republican governor said he will also task the Texas Department of Public Safety to raise the bar to make trespassing a crime so that police can arrest undocumented migrants more. He said undocumented immigrants face more arrest and jail time while illegal drugs and other contraband will also be stopped from entering the United States.
Abbott blamed President Biden and VP Kamala Harris for not taking the issue of border security very seriously. He said the presidency is willfully ignoring the issue to the detriment of the entire nation. He said Texas will not “sit idly by” and do nothing to protect immigration laws.
“It is purposeful,” Abbott said. “Its wanton disregard for the border laws, for the immigration laws, for the border communities, for candidly, anybody in the United States of America. It is a joke to the Biden administration. But we are not taking it as a joke in Texas. We are going to step up and respond the way we must respond to secure the sovereignty of our state, to prevent the invasion that’s taken place in front of our very own eyes.”
Just a week ago, Harris was in Guatemala and Mexico, where she discussed the main reasons behind illegal US immigration with the authorities there. But in a recent interview on NBC, she said the government needs to pay attention to border issues as well as the root causes of illegal migration into the United States.
Source: nbcnews.com
