AUSTIN, Texas — Thousands of migrants are crossing the Rio Grande into the border cities of Eagle Pass and El Paso. Gov. Greg Abbott has spent billions of dollars on his border security mission, Operation Lone Star. But law enforcement, barbed wire and a 1,000-foot buoy barrier do little to stop migrants from trying to seek asylum in the U.S.
“Texas is going to continue to use every tool that we can to secure the border,” Gov. Abbott said on Wednesday in New York City, where he says he’s sent almost 16,000 migrants.
Gov. Abbott says he is busing migrants to Democrat-led cities to relieve border communities.
“What you are seeing and witnessing in [New York] is a tiny fraction of what is happening every single day in the state of Texas,” Gov. Abbott said.
The governor says the physical barriers in and around the Rio Grande are meant to push migrants to cross legally through a port of entry. State Rep. Ellen Troxclair, R-Lakeway, says she’s ready to support more border security legislation during the October special session.
“We are on board, full charge ahead,” she said. “Whatever we need, whether it’s money, whether it’s boots on the ground, whether it’s additional security, whatever it is, we are going to deploy it.”
Rep. Troxclair criticizes the Biden administration for not doing enough to secure the border. She says Texas can only do so much without federal help.
“The most impactful thing he can do is reinstate the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy,” she said. “We are a welcoming country that has a process for people to migrate here legally. However, we should require that those migrants are remaining in their own country or remaining in Mexico until that proper process has been completed. But, while that’s been thrown out the window, we might as well put up giant billboards that say, ‘Please traffic drugs and humans into the United States,’ instead of saying, ‘You know what? We want to welcome you, and here’s the process to do that, and you will remain in Mexico until that process is done.’ So that’s not extreme. That is something that has worked in the past. It’s something that we know works and is the most critical thing that we could implement immediately to help stem the tide of this massive illegal immigration that we’re dealing with right now.”
One Democrat also believes the Biden administration could do more.
“I understand that the White House is limited in what it can do, and I understand that the main focus and the main attention should be given to the fact that Congress has failed us for over 30 years,” said state Rep. Eddie Morales, D-Eagle Pass. “But at the same time, I think that Texans and all of us are expecting Biden in the White House to do more.”
The Biden administration says it’s taking action to remove and return migrants to other countries, process work authorizations, and deploy military personnel to help deal with the surge.
Rep. Morales has a legislative plan for migrant processing and jobs. He wants to provide IDs to migrants that will allow them to work and also be taxed. He says he’s trying to address Republican concerns that migrants come to the U.S. and “mooch off our system.”
“It’s obvious that full deterrence alone is not working, and that we need to do something else to address this issue. They’re going to continue to come,” he said. “Think about it: If you put yourself in their shoes, they have trekked thousands of miles through jungles. They have crossed areas that are controlled by cartels and human smugglers. Do you think that a narrow river like the Rio Grande or a concertina wire is going to hold them back after they’ve trekked thousands of miles?”
Rep. Morales says creating a processing and jobs plan would allow migrants to participate in the economy.
“We have over 800,000 jobs that remain unfilled,” he said. “We have a 4% unemployment rate in the state of Texas alone. You talk to the hospitality industry, you talk to the developer and the contractors, and you talk to farmers and ranchers–they need laborers, they need work. We have major projects that are at a standstill in Austin, San Antonio, Houston, because we don’t have the labor and place to be able to move forward our economy. Think how well we’re doing and just think how much better the state of Texas can do, and can lead by example, in implementing this migrant processing plan that would be something that other states would also be able to implement as well.”
It remains to be seen what type of border legislation Gov. Abbott will call for during the third special session.