HOUSTON, Texas–On Monday Texas Governor Rick Perry announced during a press conference that up to 1,000 National Guard troops will be activated along a section of the Texas-Mexico border in an attempt to stop the tidal wave of illegal immigrants entering the U.S. each day. The governor was joined by Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, who claimed that unaccompanied minors only make up a “tiny fraction” of the illegals currently entering the nation.
A memo, obtained by the Monitor on Sunday, indicated that the National Guard will only be activated in the Rio Grande Sector.
Dewhurst said during the press conference, “It’s not in our Texas DNA just to sit idly when we can be involved in solving a problem. It’s not only our right as Texans — it’s our responsibility to act independently of the federal government if the federal government fails to do the job they’re required to do. … Washington has refused to control, to secure our borders. I’m mad, and most Texans are mad.”
Dewhurst asserted that the media’s portrayal that the majority of the migrants entering the country are children is dishonest. “The media would have you believe that the whole crisis on the border is exclusively about unaccompanied children,” he said. “It is not just about unaccompanied children — unaccompanied children represent but a tiny fraction of the illegals who cross our border every day, according to the Border Patrol.”
There is a huge “criminal element” at the border that includes significant gang activity, according to Dewhurst.
“We’ve seen estimates that at least a quarter of those apprehended have criminal records,” he added.
Border Patrol agents and the Obama Administration “are spending so much time on the unaccompanied children issue that i believe the Border Patrol isn’t doing enough to stop everyone else,” Dewhurst said.
He concluded, “Our focus right now is on what Texas can do to secure our border. … Texas has decided to go at this alone, with out the federal government.”
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