Showdown in Texas over illegal border crossings
Story by Cecilia Vega • 9h
With barricades, soldiers and new laws, Texas tries to deter illegal border crossings
This past week both President Biden and former President Trump visited the southern border in Texas. There's no denying immigration has become one of the most important and contentious issues in the presidential campaign. And there's no better example of that than the high stakes fight between the state of Texas and the federal government. Three years ago, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott launched "Operation Lone Star," deploying thousands of police and soldiers and miles of barriers to deter record numbers of illegal crossings. The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that immigration is the job of the federal government. But rarely has a state so aggressively challenged that authority. In January, Gov. Abbott ordered his state National Guard to block the federal government's Border Patrol from Shelby Park, a dusty stretch of border along the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas. To understand why, you need to see what happened there in December.
We were on the banks of the river before dawn with soldiers from the Texas National Guard… we heard the cries of people before we could see their faces. It wasn't until we moved closer that we realized how many people had just crossed from Mexico
The soldiers told them it was dangerous to cross here.
"Help us," they begged. Some of the women cried -- "we have children."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/showdown-in-texas-over-illegal-border-crossings/ar-BB1jgLvn?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=29af399a32b14afca6ca6764c981b51e&ei=6
