Texas Governor Greg Abbott is taking border security into his own hands, pledging to build a wall between the Lone Star State and Mexico.
The governor spoke about the plan at a Border Security Summit press conference on Thursday and said more details would be forthcoming.
“President Biden’s open-border policies have led to a humanitarian crisis at our southern border as record levels of illegal immigrants, drugs, and contraband pour into Texas,” Abbott said in a statement.
“While securing the border is the federal government’s responsibility, Texas will not sit idly by as this crisis grows," he continued. "The state is working collaboratively with communities impacted by the crisis to arrest and detain individuals coming into Texas illegally. Our efforts will only be effective if we work together to secure the border, make criminal arrests, protect landowners, rid our communities of dangerous drugs, and provide Texans with the support they need and deserve. This is an unprecedented crisis, and Texas is responding with the most robust and comprehensive border plan the nation has ever seen.”
The governor also announced a number of other measures to crack down on illegal immigration, including the arrest and confinement of those who enter the state illegally; a new Task Force on Border and Homeland Security; and a declaration, along with Arizona, to invoke the Emergency Management Assistance Compact.
The border crisis is no laughing matter.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) June 11, 2021
It’s also not a tourism site for members of Congress to make an annual pilgrimage to see & then do NOTHING about.
In the fed gov’t’s absence, Texas is taking additional action to secure the border & restore order.#BorderSummitTX pic.twitter.com/GWLYOjVVck
Enhanced Border Security Plan:
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) June 11, 2021
?? Disaster declaration — individuals entering TX illegally subject to arrest
?? Task Force
?? Approving over $1B in funding for border security
?? Building border barriers
?? Interstate compact powers#BorderSummitTX
“We have to build a border [wall]. I’ve been down here talking to the people in the Rio Grande Valley and the way they are being overrun is reprehensible,” Abbott told Fox News’s “The Ingraham Angle” on Thursday, according to the New York Post. “It’s disastrous what the Biden administration has done.”