Houston Chronicle by Benjamin Wermund and Jasper Scherer 9/17/2021
Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday signed a $1.8 billion border security package into law, funding his plan to deter migrants from crossing the border by building a wall and jailing them on state trespassing charges — and again saying Texas is stepping up to do what the Biden administration won’t as thousands of migrants have crossed the border in recent days.
“It is the federal government’s job to secure our border. But the Biden administration has failed to do its job,” Abbott said during an event in Fort Worth. “These funds are needed because the Biden administration’s open border policies have opened the floodgates to illegal immigration, to crime, to human trafficking, to drug smuggling.”
The signing comes as the Biden administration boosts the Border Patrol in Del Rio, where as many as 12,000 migrants, mostly Haitian asylum seekers, are camped out under an international bridge. U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Friday also moved to reroute cross-border traffic from Del Rio to Eagle Pass, saying the shift was necessary to respond to urgent safety and security needs.
Despite Abbott’s assertion, the Biden administration reportedly plans to step up deportation of Haitians, contrary to pleas from Democrats and advocates to end the practice.
Also on Friday, the Department of Homeland Security appealed a court decision ordering it to stop immediately expelling families seeking refuge in the U.S. by using a public health order enacted due to the coronavirus. The order was issued by former President Donald Trump and has been used by Border Patrol to immediately turn away most of the migrants encountered crossing the border this year.
The spending bill, which brings Texas’ two-year border security budget to nearly $3 billion, sets aside $1 billion for the construction of a barrier along parts of the border and more than $450 million to continue deploying a surge of National Guard members and Department of Public Safety troopers to the region.
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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/legislature/article/Gov-Abbott-signs-1-8B-border-security-bill-as-16468394.php
