During the Border Security Summit in Del Rio on Thursday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said walls are needed to slow the hundreds of thousands of migrants coming in illegally.
"I will announce next week the plan for the state of Texas to begin building the border wall in the state of Texas," Abbott said.
Abbott also announced the creation of the Governor's Task Force on Border and Homeland Security, a new plan to arrest and prosecute those coming over illegally, as well as a $1 billion allocated towards border security.
Abbott blamed the Biden administration’s policies for the surge in migrants coming into Texas.
"While securing the border is the federal government's responsibility, Texas will not sit idly by as this crisis grows." Abbott said. "The border crisis is no laughing matter. It’s also not a tourism site for members of congress to make an annual pilgrimage to, see the border and then go back and do absolutely nothing to solve the crisis."
Governor Abbott addressed landowners, ranchers, and farmers from border communities who have suffered damage to their property as a result of the surge in illegal immigration.
In response to Abbott’s plan to arrest those coming across illegally, Kate Huddleston, staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said, “Gov. Abbott’s plan is unlawful and threatens to once again rip families apart at the border, causing untold harm. As we saw under President Trump, separating families by prosecuting parents creates lasting trauma for vulnerable young children and for their parents. Abbott is also undermining the right to seek asylum by jailing those fleeing danger and punishing them for seeking refuge in the U.S. Additionally, Abbott’s proposed border wall will harm border communities and the environment. In this plan, Abbott is yet again scapegoating immigrants in an effort to distract from his own failures in governing and managing actual crises in Texas — like the historic winter storm that led to the deaths of more than 150 Texans — with cruel results.”
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