Texas Governor Greg Abbott visited the border with Mexico to call for an increase in border security after the deaths of 53 migrants in San Antonio. He also announced plans for increased commercial vehicle inspections.
The death toll now stands at 53 after a truck filled with people was found in San Antonio Monday night. Officials with the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office say the victims were from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.
Officials in Mexico have released a map of what they say was the truck's route to San Antonio. They show it going through a checkpoint in the town of Encinal, Texas along I-35. Encinal is about 40 miles north of Laredo.
Governor Abbott said the truck should never have reached San Antonio.
"The truck passed through a border checkpoint. It was not inspected," the Gov. Abbott said. "It was not inspected because the Border Patrol does not have the resources to inspect all of the trucks. Mr. President, you can fix that - if you provide what is categorized as the minimum number of Border Patrol officers who are needed...and adequately fund their operations." He called on the White House to immediately hire 2,000 more Border Patrol agents.
In the meantime, he said Texas would be stepping up its commercial vehicle inspections.
"Texas is going to add additional truck checkpoints. The DPS will create and implement a checkpoint strategy beginning immediately," said Texas Governor Greg Abbott. "They will begin targeting trucks like the one where these people perished to make sure that we will have a better capability of perhaps stopping future trucks like that."
Investigators have said the truck had phony license plates and was painted to resemble a legitimate truck belonging to a U.S. company, a process which is known as "cloning".
The Governor also outlined efforts to impose more physical barriers along the border with Mexico.
"We're going to be adding more resources and stronger strategies to control all the border land that is owned or controlled by state or local governments," he said.
Officials are also reaching out to private landowners.
"There are people up and down the border who own property on the border. We are getting authorization from as many of them as we can for the State of Texas to be able to put up barriers - whether it be concertina wire or fences or other types of barriers - so we can prevent people from entering the United States and the State of Texas through that private property," Gov. Abbott said.
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