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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, fed up with waiting on President Joe Biden to implement tougher immigration and border security measures, has taken action on his own to stem the latest surge in migrants.
Abbott ordered the Texas National Guard and Department of Public Safety troopers to Eagle Pass to assist local authorities after the border town mayor issued a disaster declaration, according to NewsNation.
In fiscal year 2023, the Eagle Pass sector of the southern border has seen a staggering 270,000 encounters with unauthorized migrants. But on Wednesday, sources with U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that a record-breaking 10,000 individuals entered the town from Mexico in a single day.
“Numbers like that haven’t been seen since before the end of the pandemic-era policy Title 42, which allowed officials to turn migrants away on public health grounds. Before Title 42’s expiration May 11, illegal crossings started to surge, although shortly after the policy was lifted, they dropped dramatically,” NewsNation reported.
“There has been a situation the last couple of days where we have gotten an influx of immigrants crossing through Eagle Pass. And it has taken a toll on our local resources,” Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas told NewsNation after he issued the disaster declaration.
“I’ve been getting a lot of calls from our constituents, and they get worried — they see a lot of a lot of people in our community. But it is my understanding that some of these people, they don’t want to be there. So they’re leaving [the shelters], and they’re on our streets, and I understand the concerns of a lot of people,” Salinas noted further.
A video clip tweeted by Townhall.com correspondent Julio Rosas showed Texas National Guard troops preventing illegal migrants from entering the state.
At a different spot along the Rio Grande, illegal immigrants are finding a way through the C-wire despite the National Guard being there. pic.twitter.com/qaapFMS9qQ
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) September 23, 2023
Additional footage he posted from “a different spot along the Rio Grande” showed “illegal immigrants … finding a way through the [concertina wire] despite the National Guard being there.”
“After the group passed through, Guardsmen placed more C-wire in the gap illegal immigrants used to enter Eagle Pass,” he added.
After the group passed through, Guardsmen placed more C-wire in the gap illegal immigrants used to enter Eagle Pass. pic.twitter.com/bP8HDAotQl
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) September 23, 2023
Earlier in the week, Abbott wrote on social media that federal border authorities, likely under instructions from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and the White House, began cutting concertina/razor wire placed “in Eagle Pass to stop illegal crossings.”
“I immediately deployed more Texas National Guard to repel illegal crossings & install more razor wire,” Abbott said in the Tuesday tweet, which showed Border Patrol agents appearing to cut the wire and allow illegal immigrants into the state.
Texas installed razor wire in Eagle Pass to stop illegal crossings.
Today the Biden Admin CUT that wire, opening the floodgates to illegal immigrants.
I immediately deployed more Texas National Guard to repel illegal crossings & install more razor wire. pic.twitter.com/eMtLS8Z6WI
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) September 20, 2023
Even some Democrats have begun demanding that the administration do more to staunch the flow of illegal immigrants as more of them flood into their cities.
“I’m gonna tell you something New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I didn’t see an ending to. I don’t see an ending to this… This issue will destroy New York City. Destroy New York City,” Mayor Eric Adams told the city council and other officials earlier this month, according to a clip posted to social media.
He then blasted the Biden administration.
“Month after month I stood up and said this is gonna come to a neighborhood near you. Well, we’re here, we’re getting no support on this national crisis, and we’re receiving no support,” he said, adding that 10,000 migrants per month are flooding into the city (see video below).
“One hundred ten thousand migrants we have to feed, clothe, house, educate the children, wash their laundry sheets, give them everything they need, health care,” Adams said. “Now we’re getting Western Africa, now we’re getting people from all over the globe that made their minds up that they’re gonna come through the southern border and coming to New York City.”
“Everyone is saying it is New York City’s problem. Every community in this city is going to be impacted. We have a $12 billion deficit that we’re going to have to cut. Every service in this city is going to be impacted, all of us,” Adams said.
