Greg Abbott’s Proposed Law Changes Could Have Devastating Impact on Texas Border County: On Monday, a Texas judge, endorsing the measures of state legislators to enforce their own protocols regarding unauthorized immigration, issued a dire statement regarding the inadequate infrastructure and funding that are currently present in her small community.
Immigration across Texas’ southern border increased from 1.05 million in fiscal year 2021 to 1.33 million in 2022 and 1.31 million in 2023, according to federal data. From 472,800 between October and January, illicit contacts dropped by 81,987 between January and February this fiscal year.
Meanwhile, many conservatives, like Texas Governor Greg Abbott, support Senate Bill 4 (S.B. 4), which would allow Texas to arrest, imprison, and deport without federal involvement. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Texas’ attempt to activate S.B. 4 last Wednesday, pending Supreme Court proceedings.
Abbott visited with Louisiana Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson last week to get his conference to pass southern border legislation. Since March 2021, Operation Lone Star has deployed Texas National Guard soldiers and razor wire along the Mexico border. Abbott has lauded it.
Terrell County Judge Dale Carruthers told Scripps News Monday, “We are financially strapped.” “Anything else that would be an unfunded mandate could cripple this county.”
Operation Lone Star gave Terrell County two sheriff officers, but roads, schools, and law enforcement still strain its $1.8 million budget.
Newsweek contacted and emailed Abbott and Carruthers for comment.
The county was the 37th least populous in the US and the seventh least populous in Texas in 2020 with 760 people.
“I support Senate Bill 4 and believe that, as the effort to secure our borders grows, we will need a whole-government approach utilizing state, local, and federal resources,” Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland told Newsweek Monday.
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Cleveland, who represented the Texas Department of Public Safety to the U.S. Border Patrol for six months in 2008, said Texas had been involved in border security longer than Operation Lone Star. He mentioned the previous governor’s Operation Border Star. Former governor Rick Perry.
“We will, however, have a few things we need to figure out before we begin apprehending and charging illegals under S.B. 4,” he said. “Resources and funding represent the two most significant limitations for my office.” The nearest ports of entry, Del Rio and Presidio, are 120 and 170 miles apart. “By transporting individuals to either location, a deputy will be absent from my county for nearly an entire shift.”
Cleveland told Newsweek migrant fatalities had soared. The Biden administration has identified 37 corpses in the US as undocumented immigrants have increased, one every county over the previous three years.
Canyons, hills, washes, mountains, and 2,000-foot cliffs are used by the county to deter migrants.
Despite county officials’ efforts to arrest migrants, the jail only holds seven individuals and lacks gender segregation. Cleveland told Scripps News that five county police monitor 2,300 square miles of border terrain. They semi-regularly intercept smuggling and migratory trucks on local routes.
U.S. Census Bureau reports that nearly all Texas border counties will expand between 2022 and 2023, except Terrell County and Zapata, which will fall. Zapa lost 102 residents and Terrell one.
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