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With thousands of people a day pouring into Eagle Pass, Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference Wednesday in the small border town that the state's border security operations are expanding.

He made the announcement after sheriffs deputies in a county further north apprehended human smugglers and dropped them off at the port of entry in Eagle Pass, effectively deporting them.

Abbott said he is expanding Texas Department of Public Safety operations within Operation Lone Star to include new strike teams of 20 troopers each. Theyve already begun targeting semi-trucks and establishing new vehicle checkpoints in order to detect and deter smuggling operations, the governor said.

The Texas Military Department also is deploying more razor wire along the Rio Grande River, adding more miles of fencing and barriers on state and local property, and deploying additional boat teams, he said. Texas is continuing to do the federal governments job in response to a crisis the president created, Abbott argues.

"The Lone Star State will not sit idly by as the federal government chooses to ignore the historic number of illegal crossings, human smuggling, and drug trafficking of deadly fentanyl from Mexico into the United States, he said. Our government has no greater responsibility than to provide public safety to its citizens. Until President Biden decides to uphold immigration laws passed by Congress, the state of Texas will continue utilizing every tool available to secure the border and keep Texans and Americans safe."

The thousands of people daily entering the Eagle Pass region have crossed the Rio Grande River from Piedras Negras in Coahuila, Mexico. The constant flow of people, drugs and smuggling through their communities, some residents argue, is evidence that the memorandum of understanding Abbott signed with the governor of Coahuila hasnt stopped illegal crossing or crime.

On April 14, Gov. Abbott signed memorandas of understanding with Coahuila Gov. Miguel ngel Riquelme Sols and Chihuahua Gov. Mara Eugenia Campos Galvn in Austin. Hes signed four agreements in total. Since then, illegal entry into Texas from these governors states has only increased, not decreased, according to federal data.

On Wednesday morning, farther north of Eagle Pass in Kinney County, Sheriff Brad Coe's deputies engaged in a vehicle pursuit of human smugglers, which ended with the vehicle rolling over. Deputies, due to a range of factors, transported four illegal immigrants to the Eagle Pass Port of Entry and dropped them off in the middle of the international bridge, effectively deporting them. Federal officers staffing the bridge applauded the deputies, retired Border Patrol agent Frank Lopez Jr., whos running for Congress in the district covering this part of the border, told The Center Square.

Coe couldnt be reached for comment.

Law enforcement officers have sworn an oath to uphold the constitution, Lopez said, and what the Biden administration is doing is ignoring, disregarding, and violating it.

Im surprised that we havent had more of a righteous disregard for unlawful and unconstitutional orders within the Border Patrol, he added of those working in his former agency of 30-plus years. What Border Patrol agents are being ordered to do isnt what they signed up for, he said, referring to processing and releasing illegal immigrants into the U.S. instead of deporting them in accordance with federal law.

Sheriff Coe will always place the safety of Kinney County residents above all else, Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith told The Center Square. If that means transporting illegal aliens to the border, then so be it. The safety of Texans should be placed before the comfort of others illegally within our country.

Smith helped prosecute the first convicted illegal immigrant apprehended through Operation Lone Star. Kinney County leads in the number of OLS arrests for criminal trespassing, human smuggling and other crimes committed out of all counties participating in Texas border security operation.

Kinney County was the first to declare a disaster declaration last April in response to the impact illegal immigration has had on its residents. Other counties followed suit, also issuing disaster declarations. One month later, Abbott declared a disaster declaration for multiple counties in response.

Abbotts and local sheriffs efforts continue after a record number of people have been apprehended entering the U.S. illegally at the southwestern border and a record number are estimated to have evaded capture and are living somewhere in the U.S. illegally.

Link:
Texas to Expand Border Security to cut Constant Flow of Illegal Immigrants and Drugs - bigcountrynewsconnection.com

The liberal media has characterized the Supreme Courts decision allowing President Biden to terminate the Remain in Mexico policy as a win for the president.

Not so fast. In reality, the court has handed the struggling president yet another political hot potato. Already there are a record number of people traveling north to cross into the U.S. illegally; this decision will likely increase the flow, causing headaches for an overwhelmed border patrol, and for the White House.

A recent Economist poll shows Bidens approval on immigration at 32 percent; chaos at the border is not popular.

Bidens approach so far has been to ignore the problem, despite pleas from border states, which absorb the brunt of the influx. Now, however, after the horrific deaths of 53 migrants left to die inside a scorching truck, Democrats and the liberal media are finally paying attention. Its about time.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has called the slaughter a Uvalde moment, likening the impact of those deaths to the galvanizing murders of 19 school children last month in Uvalde, Texas. That terrible event led to the first gun reform laws being passed in decades.

Similarly inspired, Durbin and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) are reportedly in talks aimed at reaching a broad compromise on immigration.

This could throw Biden a lifeline. Were the president to encourage Democrats in Congress to propose sensible immigration reforms, he might actually improve his standing.

The odds are long.

Over many years, repeated efforts to agree on common sense immigration rules that might stem the flow of people coming across our border illegally now at over 200,000 per month have flopped. Many Democrats welcome the flood of mostly Hispanic people entering our country, convinced that they will ultimately become voters for their party. That was not always the case.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) declared in 2009 to the Migration Policy Institute, Illegal immigration is wrong, and a primary goal of comprehensive immigration reform must be to dramatically curtail future illegal immigration. Today, for Schumer and other Democrats, border security is a non-starter.

At the other end of the spectrum, Republicans think illegal immigration is a running sore, undermining the rule of law. They argue that you cannot have a secure country without a secure border.

Neither side has put forward a workable compromise in decades.

Biden took office determined to undo everything President Trump had accomplished, including his success in driving down the number of people attempting to enter the U.S. illegally. Trumps Remain in Mexico policy helped; the numbers were not large but news percolated south that the welcome mat had been removed.

On entering the Oval Office, Biden ordered the end of that approach but was initially blocked by the courts. Nonetheless, the presidents campaign promised to end detention of migrant families, to stop building the border wall and generally to be more welcoming to those seeking asylum; those signals encouraged the caravans to start making their way north.

The costs of Bidens see no evil attitude are evident. The deadly drug fentanyl, imported across our southern border, has become the number one cause of death among young people; 80,000 Americans died from fentanyl poisoning just last year. Fentanyl used to come from China; smugglers have now teamed up with Mexican drug cartels, which are reaping billions from easy access to U.S. buyers.

Meanwhile, the cartels are also earning a fortune from their smuggling operations. At the same time, an overwhelmed border patrol apprehended 50 people on the terror watch list last year; who knows how many slipped through undetected.

This is unacceptable. The administrations point person on immigration, Alejandro Mayorkas, was wrong when he told Congress that our border was closed. What he presumably meant was that the subject is closed not just within the White House, which has studiously refused to discuss the disaster at the border, but also among Democrats generally.

Which is why Durbins sudden awakening is welcome, as would be some reasonable new immigration rules. For instance:

Rewriting our dysfunctional and unpopular immigration laws seems like a heavy lift for a president unable to inspire even his own party.

But if Biden can lead Congress to common sense reforms, he might go down as a president who did something right. At this point, that seems like a long shot.

Liz Peek is a former partner of major bracket Wall Street firm Wertheim & Company. Follow her on Twitter @lizpeek.

Read more:
Could immigration reform reboot Joe Bidens presidency? - The Hill

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) Following the horror of a human-smuggling attempt that left 53 people dead, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state troopers to inspect more trucks again expanding a border security mission that has cost billions, given the National Guard arrest powers and bused migrants to Washington, D.C.

What Abbotts get-tough plans havent done in the year since he began rolling them out is curb the number of people crossing the border.

Along the border in Texas, where officials say Mondays fatal tractor-trailer journey began, U.S. authorities stopped migrants from crossing illegally 523,000 times between January and May, up from 417,000 over the same span a year ago. It reflects how, across the nations entire southern border, crossings are at or near the highest in about two decades.

The deadliest smuggling attempt in U.S. history illustrated the limitations of Abbotts massive border apparatus as the two-term governor, who is up for reelection in November, points the finger at President Joe Biden. Immigration advocates have disagreed with Abbotts criticism and said Biden is focused on enforcement.

Texas is going to take action to do our part to try to reduce the illegal immigration coming into our country, Abbott said Wednesday while on the border in the town of Eagle Pass.

He said that state troopers would begin inspecting more tractor-trailers in wake of the tragedy. He did not provide details about the extent or location of the inspections. But unlike an inspection effort three months ago that gridlocked the states 1,200-mile (1,930-kilometer) border for a week, troopers are not checking every tractor-trailer as it comes into Texas.

The Texas Department of Public Safety did not respond to questions Friday about how many trucks have been inspected since the governors order or whether any migrants have been found.

Critics have questioned the transparency and metrics of what is now a $3 billion mission since Operation Lone Star was launched in the spring of 2021. Some arrests, including for low-level amounts of marijuana during traffic stops, appear to have little to do with border security. After a rushed deployment of the Texas National Guard, some members complained of low morale, late paychecks and having little to do.

Since April, Abbott has offered bus rides to Washington, D.C., to migrants who cross the border, saying he was taking the immigration issue to Congress doorstep. So far, about 3,000 migrants have taken the trip at a cost of more than $5 million.

Greg Abbott, all he wants to do is gotcha phrases and gotcha stunts without any real solutions, said state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat whose district includes the back road in San Antonio where the truck was found abandoned. Hes spent over $10 billion supposedly securing the border and hasnt done one damn thing to fix this.

U.S. border authorities are stopping migrants more often on the southern border than at any time in at least two decades. Migrants were stopped nearly 240,000 times in May, up by one-third from a year ago.

Comparisons to pre-pandemic levels are complicated because migrants expelled under a public health authority known as Title 42 face no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. Authorities say 25% of encounters in May were with people who had been stopped at least once in the previous year.

Abbotts earlier truck inspection effort drew wide backlash and caused deep economic losses, and troopers found no migrants or drugs.

Abbott stopped the checks after signing agreements with governors in Mexicos four neighboring states, but warned he might reimpose them if he didnt see improvement. The number of migrants crossing in May was higher than in April.

Asked about it Wednesday, Abbott said accountability may come soon. He also blamed Mexicos federal government, saying it needs to do more.

He says the operation overall has been successful, pointing to more than 4,000 migrants arrested on state criminal trespassing charges, 14,000 felony arrests and drug seizures. He also said Texas has turned back more than 22,000 migrants over the last year a fraction of the attempted border crossings across the southern border in a single month.

Before Mondays tragedy, the deadliest attempted smuggling in Texas was in 2003 when the bodies of 19 people were found dead in a sweltering trailer about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio. Jeff Vaden, a former U.S. attorney who helped prosecute that case, said sentences for smuggling migrants are not high enough.

Its not a deterrent for people taking that risk, he said.

One of the first to visit some of the migrants pulled from the truck and hospitalized in San Antonio was Antonio Fernandez, president and CEO of Catholic Charities, which provides migrants and their families with housing and assistance.

Fernandez said summer is usually a slower time, but not this year. A hotel used by Catholic Charities that typically shelters 50 people has lately been filled with 100 every night, and he now has eight members of staff who help families with immigration, up from just one.

My conversations with a lot of these people, clearly, they have nothing in their countries, Fernandez said. They dont have a life and they dont feel safe. Theyre hungry. For them, America is not a choice. Its the only option they have.

Continued here:
Texas' border mission grows, but crossings still high - The Associated Press

Bulk of spending would go to "virtual border wall," compensating local law enforcement forced to deal with migrant and fentanyl trafficking

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Thursday signed legislation committing more than half a billion dollars to border security.

The bulk of the spending ($335 million out of the $564 million) is earmarked for border fence construction and technology improvements. Local news media reported that equates to installing motion sensors, infrared cameras, and aerial drones a virtual fence because the federal government owns most of the land adjacent to the border and most of it is already walled.

Inaction by President Biden has led to the worst border crisis in over 20 years, Ducey, a Republican, said in a statement. With this investment, we are giving our law enforcement professionals another critical resource they need to do their jobs. We are standing for the rule of law and cementing Arizonas commitment to securing our state and our nation.

U.S. authorities have encountered 385,631 unauthorized migrants in Arizona since October 1. The Tucson Sector, which includes Eastern Arizona, has seen 44.4 percent more migrants than the previous year. In comparison, the Yuma Sector which comprises the western portion of the state reports a 345 percent increase in apprehensions.

The number of migrant encounters has skyrocketed at our border, overwhelming law enforcement and Border Patrol, said U.S. Rep. John Kavanaugh, R-Arizona. We need more support and physical barriers. This is a reasonable investment in Arizonas safety and security.

The legislation includes more than $125 million to support local law enforcement in dealing with the collateral effects of illegal immigration. Sheriffs deputies will be getting $53.4 million in salary compensation; local counties get $30 million to prosecute human smugglers; Cochise County will receive a $20 million state match for a new jail; local officers working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) get $15 million; and various departments can apply for $10 million in funds to reduce trafficking.

The package contemplates more than $55 million for operations. That includes $30 million for a new State Emergency Operations Center; $15 million for a state police Southern Border Coordinated Response Center; $10 million for National Guard troop deployment as needed; and $800,000 for the Department of Emergency and Military Affairs chain of command.

Another $25 million are to be spent on the migrants. A $15 million fund is created for the transportation of asylum-seekers and $10 million in state cash is earmarked for emergency health care and testing of migrants.

This investment is critical to saving lives on the border and within our communities, said Tim Roemer, director of the Arizona Department of Homeland Security. Not only is this a border crisis, its a humanitarian crisis and its getting worse. More migrants are making the dangerous journey, fentanyl deaths are spiking [] This funding will go toward critical resources and tools to help us combat dangerous transnational organizations and protect victims.

Visit link:
Governor commits $564 million to border security citing Biden inaction on immigration - ABC27

Deadly folly

WHEN illegal immigration policies are half-hearted, traffickers thrive and the most vulnerable people die.

We have seen it in the Channel, with a Tory clampdown thwarted by lazy French cops, our crazy Human Rights Act and left-wing open borders campaigners.

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The result is tens of thousands of migrants a year chancing the crossing in small boats and dozens drowning.

Now, in the US, 50 have been left to die in the hellish heat of a lorry trailer sneaking them into Texas from Mexico.

President Joe Biden will not strictly control his southern border.

His Democrats believe doing so is cruel.

Crueller still to leave migrants at the mercy of despicable criminals, encouraged by lax borders to try their luck.

Smash their business model instead.

WE pity Scots the 16 months of toxic and divisive rancour Nicola Sturgeon has unleashed on them by announcing a date for her next independence vote.

Its the last thing they need.

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Most are just trying to make ends meet.

Sturgeon is running out of road and desperate to appease SNP hardliners.

But it does affect the rest of the UK.

If her vote is outlawed by the Supreme Court, she will treat victory at the next election as the mandate she needs.

Now imagine a hung Parliament in 2024, with Keir Starmer needing SNP help to govern.

An SNP, with its abysmal record in Scotland and hell-bent on ending the union, pulling Starmers strings.

And you think the Tories look shambolic.

TALKING of Starmer, we knew he had no policies. We didnt expect him to admit it.

Yesterday he formally binned Labours 2019 manifesto.

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Fair enough. It was rubbish. What replaces it? He doesnt know.Its a clean slate.

Starmer is a shifty, rootless lightweight buffeted by the political wind.

He will fill his next manifesto with whatever is fashionable that week.

He told Leavers he respected their Brexit vote, then fought to overturn it.

He said Corbyn would make a fine PM then disowned him.

He persuaded Labours Left he would be even more radical as leader.

He never meant a word.

What a dismal alternative as PM

RUDDERLESS and now in special measures, Londons Met Police is in dire straits.

The Left will of course blame underfunding.

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That cannot explain the abhorrent scandals, two appalling chiefs in succession and the surrender to criminals and to woke Twitter lunacy.

Both contenders to take over are Met insiders.

Is either really the radical reformer this broken force is crying out for?

Continue reading here:
When illegal immigration policies are half-hearted traffickers thrive & the most vulnerable people die... - The Sun