Texas Governor Greg Abbott Issued a Disaster Declaration in Southern Texas
Jose Nino
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On June 1, 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration in southern Texas. The intention of this disaster declaration was to increase the number of resources being sent to the border during a time when migrant inflows have been on the rise.
According to a report by Kaylee Greenlee at the Daily Caller, “Law enforcement officials were directed to prosecute illegal immigrants under applicable federal and state criminal laws including smuggling, human trafficking and trespassing, Abbott said in the press release.”
Abbott argued that illegal aliens are infringing on private property rights and attacking landowners.
“President Biden’s open-border policies have paved the way for dangerous gangs and cartels, human traffickers, and deadly drugs like fentanyl to pour into our communities,” Abbott added. “Meanwhile, landowners along the border are seeing their property damaged and vandalized on a daily basis while the Biden Administration does nothing to protect them.”
“Texas continues to step up to confront the border crisis in the federal government’s absence, but more must be done,” the press release also noted.
Abbott directed the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to shut down all federally contracted detention facilities that house illegal migrants. These included facilities that hold unaccompanied children. Thanks to a waiver from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards and the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, counties now have the power to designate alternative facilities to detain illegal migrants or expand capacity according to their needs.
Texas’s recent move is a sign of the times, when state governments have no confidence in the federal government’s ability to control the border. As a result, red states will have to take immigration matters into their own hands by passing measures to mitigate the recent wave of illegal aliens entering the country.
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