Texas Governor Greg Abbott accused the Biden Administration of enriching Mexican drug and human smuggling cartels with the changes of border security policies put in place after January 20. The governor said President Joe Biden’s policies enable the cartels to exploit women and children from Central America.

Speaking to reporters along the Texas border with Mexico and flanked by Texas Department of Public Safety assets deployed for border security, Governor Abbott told reporters, “Border Patrol officials warned the Biden Administration in advance” about the consequences of changing border security and immigration policies.

Abbott said the cartels are overwhelming Border Patrol agents by flooding the border with families and unaccompanied minors. He said this puts Border Patrol agents in babysitting roles that pull them away from securing the U.S.-Mexico Border.

“The cartels are quite literally being enriched,” Abbott stated. “The Biden Administration is helping cartels make more money.”

Cartels making money through human smuggling is not a new issue, however. In 2019, Breitbart Texas reported that Mexican cartels were charging Central American migrants up to $9,000 each to bring them through Mexico and up to the U.S. border.

“They were paying something like $1,500 as early as 24 months ago. Now they’re charging them $8,000 to $9,000. It’s gone up with the demand, and it’s usually paid upfront,” El Paso Sector Spokesman Fidel Baca explained at the time. “And really all they have to do is take them down to the border and tell them which way to walk. Most times, they (the smugglers) don’t even want to run the risk of getting apprehended by us.”

In October 2014, Breitbart Texas’ Ildefonso Oritz reported the growing revenue stream for the Mexican drug cartels and many shifted their efforts to human smuggling.

Ortiz wrote:

While Most people understand why drugs are so expensive and why cartels are involved, it is important to understand that in the minds of human smugglers, illegal immigrants are just another black market commodity

…

As Breitbart Texas had previously reported, the ransom amounts being collected by smuggling groups add up to large amounts of cash.

…

While in previous years human smuggling had been a criminal activity with minimal violence, the dynamic changed in the mid 1990’s when drug cartels began splitting Mexico into territories where they exacted absolute control over every criminal activity.

Governor Abbott expressed outrage after learning that Border Patrol agents are not provided COVID-19 vaccinations like other federal front-line workers.

“What I am about to tell you may be one of the most reprehensible things I’ve heard this whole time,” he said. “The Biden administration is not providing vaccinations for the Border Patrol.”

“We have Border Patrol [agents] whose lives are on the line of a daily basis — an hourly basis — and the Biden administration will not provide those Border Patrol [agents] with the vaccinations they need” the outraged governor stated. “The Biden administration should surge vaccines to Texas to all men and women on the Border Patrol this week.”

“Anything less than that is the epitome of inhumanity,” Abbot stated.

While border security is a federal government responsibility, Abbott said, “Texas will not shy away from filling the gap” created by the Biden administration’s reversal of successful border security policies.

He explained that ranchers in South Texas and homeowners along the border are experiencing “mayhem” as the ever-increasing numbers of migrants cross the border unchecked.

The Texas governor expressed concern about what will follow the current surge of migrants. In a message to future migrant caravans, Abbott said, “We are ready, we are waiting for you, we will enforce the law.” He stated the caravan migrants “will not be accepted into Texas.”

Last week, Abbott announced “Operation Lone Star” and ordered the deployment of the Texas National Guard and additional DPS resources.

Texas National Guard Adjutant General, Major General Tracy Norris told the reporters she is deploying more than 500 soldiers this week to support the Texas Department of Public Safety.

“We’re going to be doing observation posts along the area that DPS designates for us,” General Norris stated. “We currently have soldiers already trained for this event.”

Abbott expressed concern over the rapidly growing number of apprehension in the Rio Grande Valley Sector. He reported Border Patrol numbers indicating more than 90,000 apprehensions in all of FY 2020. During the first few months of this fiscal year, that number jumped to more than 108,000.

“We are on a scale where it is going to more than double or triple, or maybe quadruple or quintuple, made just in the Rio Grande Valley Sector alone because of the new policies of the Biden Administration,” he said.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.