The Texas Public Policy Foundation released the following statement from Rodney Scott, Senior Distinguished Fellow for Border Security and retired 24th Chief of the United States Border Patrol.
“The actions outlined in Governor Abbott’s latest Executive Order will make Operation Lone Star more effective and improve the deterrent for illegal crossing. Intercepting migrants crossing between ports of entry will reduce the mounting ‘gotaway’ problem which has seen thousands of dangerous criminals and scores of individuals on the FBI’s Terrorism Watchlist evade apprehension and disperse into the interior of the country. It also shifts the focus back to President Biden’s pitiful lack of border security policy and puts the problem right at the administration’s doorstep.
“It will also save lives. Migrants who cross into the United States illegally between ports of entry and are apprehended and accounted for are less likely to die in remote borderlands or end up in stash houses and tractor trailers. This action should stem the record numbers who have been dying.
“While we commend Governor Abbott for this positive step forward, Texans shouldn’t forget that this means they are now paying for border security twice: once for the federal government not to do its job, and twice for Texas to do it for them. Texas should continue to use every legal avenue to pressure the Biden Administration to step up and protect border communities.
“This action is especially timely considering the expected exponential increase that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security itself anticipates with the impending end of Title 42 restrictions that could lead as many as 18,000 migrants a day to cross our border. The reality is that this action comes none too soon for both Texas border communities and America as a whole, as Biden administration policies of non-enforcement are inviting overwhelming numbers of migrants from all over the world to head toward the U.S. southwestern border.”