(By Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent an SOS to his fellow 49 governors Tuesday asking for help to secure the state’s 1,254-mile-border with Mexico.
Abbott sent a letter to every governor of every U.S. state asking for their help after the public health authority Title 42 ended on May 12 and roughly 150,000 people are estimated to be congregated on the Mexican side approaching to enter the U.S. illegally.
Groups of tens of thousands have already arrived in the Rio Grande Valley and other areas of Texas, overwhelming Border Patrol agents. Abbott already has sent more than 10,000 Texas National Guard troops as border communities continue to declare emergencies.
The call for help comes after at least 125 known, suspected terrorists have been apprehended illegally entering the southern border this fiscal year and as the former ICE chief argues Biden administration policies are the greatest national security threat since 9/11.
While the Biden administration has sent 1,500 military personnel to help Border Patrol agents process illegal foreign nationals into the U.S., they aren’t acting in a law enforcement capacity.
“Since taking office, President Biden has willfully refused to enforce our nation’s immigration laws while systematically dismantling every effective border security policy that previously led to the lowest number of illegal border crossings in decades,” Abbott wrote the governors. “The resultant surge in illegal immigration and transnational criminal activity is a direct consequence of these misguided actions.
“The flood of illegal border activity invited by the Biden Administration flows directly across the southern border into Texas communities, but this crisis does not stop in our state,” Abbott wrote. “Emboldened Mexican drug cartels and other transnational criminal enterprises profit off this chaos, smuggling people and dangerous drugs like fentanyl into communities nationwide.
“In the federal government’s absence, we, as Governors, must band together to combat President Biden’s ongoing border crisis and ensure the safety and security that all Americans deserve.”
Referring to an Emergency Management Assistance Compact, he said the states are empowered to provide assistance to each other “in times of disaster or emergency, both of which accurately describe the current border crisis.
“Join us in the mission to defend our national sovereignty and territorial integrity and send all available law enforcement personnel and resources to the Texas-Mexico border to serve alongside our thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers,” Abbott urged his fellow governors.
He also explained that the Texas legislature first allocated $4.5 billion on border security operations from 2021-2023 through Operation Lone Star. The current budget is allocating an additional $4.6 billion over the next two years. Texas also began building its own border wall using hundreds of millions of Texas taxpayer dollars and private donations totaling over $55 million so far.
Since March 2021, Operation Lone Star officers have apprehended more than 376,000 illegal foreign nationals and made over 28,000 criminal arrests, with over 25,000 felony charges reported. They’ve also seized more than 416 million lethal doses of fentanyl, enough to kill more than the entire U.S. population.
“Texas alone should not have to shoulder the financial burden of protecting our nation,” Abbott wrote.
He also thanked the governors of Idaho and Florida for already committing to send assistance to secure the Texas-Mexico border.
