EAGLE PASS, Texas – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday toured Texas National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety border security assets along the Texas-Mexico Border in Eagle Pass.
After the tour, Abbott held a news conference where he provided an update on the state’s border security strategies along the Rio Grande River.
In an effort to thwart cartel activity along the border, Abbott said that the state continues surging resources, including razor wire, to border communities to build stronger, more efficient barriers to deter illegal crossings between ports of entry. He also discussed Texas’ continued efforts working collaboratively alongside law enforcement partners in Mexico and the governors of the Mexican States of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas, who signed historic border security memorandums of understanding with Texas last month.
Abbott also detailed the state’s ongoing support for local border communities as they mitigate the mass influx of illegal immigrants, drugs, and weapons, including continuing to bus migrants from Texas to Washington, D.C. As of Monday, 45 buses have left for Washington, D.C., he said.
“Texas communities are bearing the burden of the Biden Administration’s open border policies, and the State of Texas will not allow the inaction of the federal government to impede on the safety and security Texans deserve,” Abbott said. “The Lone Star State will not waiver in our efforts to secure the border, and we will continue to do deploy all resources necessary to prevent the flow of deadly drugs like fentanyl, human smugglers, dangerous criminals, and other illegal contraband from coming into Texas. Operation Lone Star continues to fill in the gaps where the federal government has failed Texans, and I thank local law enforcement, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the Texas National Guard for their continued collaboration in taking unprecedented measures to secure the border.”
Abbott’s visit comes on the same day that President Joe Biden wanted to end Title 42, an immigration restriction provision that has been used to expel migrants. But a federal judge in Louisiana issued a nationwide injunction that keeps the order from ending.
The governor was joined at the visit by DPS Director Steve McCraw, Texas Adjutant General Thomas Suelzer, State Representative Eddie Morales, Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas, and National Border Patrol Council Vice President Hector Garza.