Texas Builds Border Wall in Sector Where 47K Migrants were Apprehended Last Month

The State of Texas began construction of a State-funded border wall to secure its border with Mexico as the Biden-era migrant crisis continues to grow. During the recently ended Fiscal Year 2021, nearly 70 percent of all migrant apprehensions along the U.S. southwest border with Mexico occurred in Texas-based border sectors.

“The State of Texas has taken comprehensive action to secure our southern border and address the border crisis while President Biden has sat idly by,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a border wall unveiling on Saturday. “In June, I promised Texans that we would step up in the federal government’s absence and build our own border wall.”

“We have wasted no time in the six months since that promise was made, and I am proud to announce that construction of the Texas border wall is now underway,” the Texas governor added. “Today not only represents the first phase of the Texas border wall, but it also serves as a major milestone in our efforts to combat illegal immigration, stop the smuggling of drugs and people, and keep our communities safe.”

During Fiscal Year 2021, which ended on September 30, Border Patrol agents apprehended 1,151,796 migrants who illegally crossed the border between ports of entry in the Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, Del Rio, Big Bend, and El Paso Sectors, Breitbart Texas reported. Since that time, another 202,937 migrants were apprehended in these same sectors.

The Texas-funded border wall construction project began in the nation’s busiest sector for migrant apprehensions. During November, the latest statistics available, agents in this sector apprehended 47,710 migrants — an increase of more than 175 percent over the previous November.

Governor Abbott cited “significant action” taken by the state in the absence of the federal government’s inaction. Those include:

• Signing laws that provide $3 billion in funding for Texas’ border security efforts
  Launching Operation Lone Star and deploying thousands of National Guard soldiers and Department of Public Safety troopers
• Creating a system to arrest and jail illegal migrants trespassing or committing other state crimes in Texas
• Signing a budget authorization to build the border wall in Texas
• Signing a law to make it easier to prosecute smugglers bringing people into Texas
  Signing 9 laws cracking down on human trafficking in Texas
• Signing a law enhancing penalties for the manufacturing and distribution of fentanyl
  Issuing a disaster declaration for the border crisis
• Issuing an executive order preventing non-governmental entities from transporting illegal immigrants
• Taking legal action to enforce the Remain in Mexico and Title 42 policies in Texas

In September, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 9 providing an additional $1.8 billion in state funds for border security. These include funds to construct the State’s border wall project.

Abbott reiterated, during the press conference above, his commitment to prosecuting migrants entering the state illegally who commit state crimes. “People we apprehend will be charged with trespassing to the state of Texas, and those charges will lead to them going to jail.”