The continued influx of illegal immigrants at Texas’ southern border has created a serious social security and humanitarian crisis. Following the announcement of Operation Lone Star last Saturday (March 6), Texas Governor Greg Abbott visited the Rio Grande Region at the southern border on Tuesday (March 9). After a visit to the Rio Grande region, he criticized the Biden administration for its misguided immigration policies.
That morning, Abbott first took an aerial view of the border from a helicopter and witnessed multiple illegal border crossers crossing the river into Texas. The governor and his team then landed in a park adjacent to the border in the border city of Mission, where they held a live press conference.
Texas Governor Abbott lands in a park near the border in Mission after a helicopter tour of the southern border region on March 9
Abbott began his speech by emphasizing that the southern border of Texas is facing an unprecedented crisis, with the rapid influx of illegal immigrants overwhelming border protection enforcement forces. He criticized the Biden Administration‘s “open border” and other misguided immigration policies as the main cause of this crisis.
The governor went on to point out that the growing border crisis for many Mexican criminal groups (cartels) to provide more opportunities to take advantage of, will bring greater harm to the entire U.S. society. The strategy of these criminal groups is to consume through the influx of ordinary illegal immigrants, dragging down the U.S. border enforcement forces, so that they are easier to organize gangs and violent criminals to smuggle into the United States, and to carry out drugs, weapons, cash smuggling and human trafficking and other criminal acts.
Data released at the release show that during the four years of the Trump administration, the number of illegal immigrants fell to its lowest point in 45 years, cutting off the interests of drug cartels. 90,000 illegal immigrant arrests were made in the Rio Grande region in all of 2020; but 180,000 arrests have been made in just over two months to date in 2021. More than 800 individuals who were deported for violent crimes were found to have re-entered the U.S. during this period, including 78 sexual assault offenders and 62 gang members.
Vehicles and boats of the Texas Border Protection Enforcement Force on display at the press conference
Speaking about Texas’ difficulties in dealing with the current border crisis, Abbott criticized the Biden administration’s “inaction” that has left the border enforcement agency without the necessary facilities, equipment and technology. He called for additional federal funding to build more illegal immigrant holding facilities as soon as possible to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in effectively protecting the border. The governor also specifically condemned the Biden administration for not providing adequate vaccines against the Chinese Communist virus to Texas border enforcement officers on the front lines, putting the lives of these nation’s defenders at greater risk.
Texas Border Protection Enforcement’s armed patrol boats on display at the release
Finally, Governor Abbott made it clear that despite the federal government’s ineffective response to the border crisis, Texas will act aggressively to fill the federal government’s gap. Through the implementation of Operation Lone Star, Texas will deploy all necessary resources to support law enforcement and the National Guard in securing the border. He also issued a stern warning to all criminal groups and those attempting to cross the border illegally: Texas will stand ready to take stronger enforcement action against these crimes.
After Governor Abbott, the Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Commander of the Texas National Guard, and the Chairman of the National Border Control Council also gave speeches, further revealing the severity and urgency of the crisis at the southern border and calling on the federal government and both parties to work together to address this crisis of concern to all Americans.
A park near the border in Mission, Texas, where the press conference was held
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