After the horrors of a human-smuggling attempt that killed 53 people, Republican Governor Greg Abbott ordered state troops to inspect more trucks — again expanding a border security mission that cost billions. I, given the powers of the National Guard to arrest and take the migrants to Washington, D.C.
What Abbott’s tough plans haven’t done in the year since he began rolling them out is to curb the number of people crossing the border.
on the border Texas, where officials say Monday’s deadly tractor-trailer journey began, US officials barred migrants from crossing 523,000 illegally between January and May, up from 417,000 in the same period a year ago. It shows how, across the entire southern border of the country, crossings are at or near their highest level in nearly two decades.
The deadliest smuggling attempt in US history paints the limits of Abbott’s sprawling border system as the two-term governor, who is up for re-election in November, points the finger at President Joe Biden. Immigration advocates disagree with Abbott’s criticism, saying Biden is focused on enforcement.
“Texas is going to take action on our behalf to try to reduce illegal immigration coming into our country,” Abbott said Wednesday while living at the border in the city of Eagle Pass.
He said that in the wake of the tragedy, the state jawans would start the inspection of tractor-trailers. He did not give details about the extent or location of the inspections. But unlike an inspection effort three months ago that closed the state’s 1,200-mile (1,930-kilometer) border for a week, soldiers aren’t checking every tractor-trailer as it arrives in Texas .
The Texas Department of Public Safety on Friday did not respond to questions about how many trucks have been inspected or whether any migrants have been found since the governor’s order.
Critics have questioned the transparency and metrics of the now $3 billion mission since Operation Lone Star began in the spring of 2021. Some arrests have little to do with limits, including low-level amounts of marijuana during traffic stops. Security. After a quick deployment of the Texas National Guard, some members complained of low morale, late pay and little to do.
Since April, Abbott has offered border crossing migrants a bus ride to Washington, D.C., saying he was taking the immigration issue to the door of Congress. So far, about 3,000 migrants have traveled at a cost of more than $5 million.
“Greg Abbott, all he wants to do is have gotcha phrases and gotcha stunts without any real solutions,” said state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat whose district includes the back road in San Antonio where the truck was abandoned. . “They’ve reportedly spent more than $10 billion protecting the border and haven’t done a single thing to fix it.”
US border officials are stopping migrants at the southern border more often than at any time in at least two decades. Migrants were stopped nearly 240,000 times in May, a third more than the year before.
Comparing pre-pandemic levels is complicated because migrants evacuated under a public health authority known as Title 42 have no legal consequences, encouraging repeat efforts. Officials say 25% of encounters in May were with people who were stopped at least once last year.
Abbott’s first truck inspection efforts drew widespread backlash and caused deep economic losses, and the soldiers found no migrants or drugs.
Abbott halted the checks after signing agreements with governors in Mexico’s four neighboring states, but warned he could reintroduce them if he didn’t see improvement. The number of migrants crossing in May was higher than in April.
Asked about it on Wednesday, Abbott said, “Accountability may come soon.” He also blamed Mexico’s federal government, saying it needed to do more.
He says the operation overall has been a success, pointing to the state’s more than 4,000 migrants arrested on criminal trespassing charges, 14,000 felonies and drug seizures. He also said Texas has turned back more than 22,000 migrants in the past year – a fraction of the effort to cross the southern border in a month.
Before Monday’s tragedy, the deadliest smuggling attempt in Texas occurred in 2003, when the bodies of 19 people were found dead in a torn trailer about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio. Jeff Weyden, a former US attorney who helped prosecute that case, said punishment for smuggling migrants is not enough.
“It’s not a deterrent to risk-takers,” he said.
One of the first to be pulled from a truck and hospitalized in San Antonio was Antonio Fernandez, president and CEO of Catholic Charities, which provides housing and support to migrants and their families.
Fernandez said the summer is usually slow, but not this year. A hotel used by a Catholic charity, which usually shelters 50 people, has recently been filled with 100 each night, and now has eight employees helping families with immigration, only one more than.
“My conversations with a lot of these people, frankly, they have nothing in their countries,” Fernandez said. “They have no life and they don’t feel safe. They’re hungry. America isn’t an option for them. It’s the only option they have.”
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